^■n 


■s^ 


f^i^l^.    fi/.T-     ^^M^r^^r^^:    %< 


THE 


SERMON     ON    THE     MOUNT 


AND    OTHER 


Extracts  from  the  new  Testament 


A  Verbatim  Translation  from  the  Greek,  with  Notes  on 
THE  Mystical  or  Arcane  Sense 


JAMES   M.  PRYSE 


NEW  YORK 

theosophical  society 

PUBLISHING  DEPARTMENT 

244  LENOX  AVENUE 

1904 


^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of   Congress,  in  the  year   1899,  in  the 

office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington, 

D.  C,  by  Elliott  B.  Page  i&  Co. 

Copyright,  1904,  by 
Theosophical  Society  Publishing  Department. 


The  DeVinne  f-Ktsw 


CONTENTS. 


Foreword 

Prefatory    Note 

The   Sermon   on    the   Mount 

The   Coming   of   the   Christos 

The  True   Path   of    Power 

A   Letter   of   Iakobos     . 

A   Letter   of   Ioudas 

The   Service   of   Right-conduct 


PAGE 

I 

3 

7 
32 
45 
53 
71 
78 


I   ^  0 ' "  -^  f 


FOREWORD. 

The  cordial  reception  accorded  the  first 
edition  of  this  little  volume  has  led  the 
translator  to  insert  considerable  additional 
matter  and  to  amplify  the  notes,  making  the 
present  edition  practically  a  new  work.  The 
translation  has  been  carefully  revised,  and 
the  nomenclature  slightly  changed,  without 
in  any  way  altering  the  sense,  to  make  it 
uniform  with  a  new  translation,  from  the 
same  hand,  of  The  Evangel  according  to 
ISannSs,  now  in  the  press. 

That  the* books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments had  an  esoteric  sense  was  agreed  to  by 
all  the  exegetists  of  the  first  three  centuries. 
And  not  only  Philo  Judseus  but  even  Augus- 
tine held  that  this  inner  meaning  was  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Mystery- teachings  hand- 
ed down  from  time  immemorial  among  the 
pagans.  A  large  volume  could  be  filled  with 
citations  from  the  patristic  and  so-called 
heretical  writings  to  substantiate  these  state- 


2  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

ments ;  but  a  single  quotation  from  Dr. 
Mosheim's  Commentaries  is  quite  conclusive. 
Speaking  of  Origen,  who  ^'pronoimced  a 
great  part  of  the  sacred  books  to  be  void  of 
meaning  if  taken  literally,"  he  says:  **He 
would  have  had  no  enemies  if  he  had  merely 
affirmed,  what  no  one  then  called  in  ques- 
tion, that  in  addition  to  the  sense  which  the 
words  of  Scripture  convey,  another  sense  la- 
tent in  the  things  described  is  to  be  diligently 
sought  for.  This  will  be  manifest,  if  we  con- 
sider who  were  the  men  that  inveighed  so 
bitterly  against  Origen's  allegories  after  he 
was  dead  :  I  refer  to  Eustatius^  Epiphanius, 
Jerome,  Augustine,  and  many  others.  All 
these  were  themselves  Allegorists,  if  I  may 
use  that  term;  and  would  undoubtedly  have 
condemned  any  man,  as  a  great  errorist/ who 
should  have  dared  to  impugn  the  arcane  sense 
of  Scripture."  Yet  in  the  received  English 
version,  biassed  by  the  dead-letter  Theology 
of  the  translators,  this  arcane  sense  is  so 
obscured,  the  psychology  so  misconstrued, 
and  such  a  materialistic  colormg  given  to  it 
all,  that  no  apology  is  needed  for  even  the 
unpretentious  little  work  here  submitted. 


PREFATORY   NOTE: 

The  following  translation  of  a  few  pass- 
ages from  the  New  Testament  writings  is 
not  a  paraphrase  but  an  attempt  at  a  more 
literal  rendering  than  the  received  version 
done  from  the  Latin  Vulgate  and  *  ^  diligently- 
compared  with  the  original  Greek."  Waiv- 
ing the  fact  that  the  oldest  Greek  manuscripts 
of  the  New  Testament  can  not  be  assigned 
to  an  earlier  date  than  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries,  the  originals  having  been  lost,  the 
diligence  of  the  learned  translators  and  re- 
visers failed  to  compensate  for  their  absolute 
ignorance  of  all  psychic  things,  not  to  speak 
of  things  spiritual  and  magical.  They  have 
made  woeful  havoc  of  the  mystical  terms 
employed;  all  their  work  is  vitiated,  even  to 
the  extent  of  suppressio  veri,  by  their  pious 
desire  to  dissociate  what  they  believed  to  be 
the  unique  literary  productions  of  Deity  from 
all  pagan  sources.  As  said  with  unconscious 
honesty  by  the  lexicographer  Parkhurst,  when 


4  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

apologizing  for  the  very  unclassical  Greek 
of  the  New  Testament :  * '  Let  us  suppose  that 
a  person  whose  native  language  was  Greek, 
and  who  had  read  some  of  the  best  Greek 
authors,  but  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
eastern  tongues,  had  met  with  some  or  all 
of  the  sacred  books  of  the  New  Testament 
soon  after  their  publication;  the  principal 
difficulty,  I  apprehend,  which  one  thus  qual- 
ified would  have  found  in  understanding 
their  style,  would  have  arisen  not  from  the 
oriental  idioms  occurring  therein,  .  .  . 
but  from  the  peculiar  senses  in  which  they 
apply  single  words;  as  for  instance,  pistis  for 
faith,  or  believing  in  God;  dikaiosune  for  im- 
puted righteousness ;  ktisis  for  creation,  or 
production  front  nothing;  and  it  will  be  nec- 
essary to  observe,  that  in  delivering  this 
precious  doctrine  which  was  to  the  Greeks 
foolishness,  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for 
the  sacred  writers  to  express  themselves  at 
all,  concerning  the  most  essential  points,  un- 
less they  had  either  coined  new  words,  or 
used  such  old  ones  as  they  already  found  in 
a  new  sense.  .  .  .  The  writers,  there- 
fore, of  the  New  Testament,  or  rather  (with 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  5 

reverence  be  it  spoken!)  the  Holy  Spirit 
whose  penmen  they  were,"  etc.  Thanking 
quaint  old  Parkhurst  for  the  candor  of  his 
admissions  and  the  delicacy  of  his  humor  in 
reducing  the  Deity,  fresh  from  his  successful 
feat  of  ** production  from  nothing,"  to  the 
necessity  of  using  old  words  in  a  new  sense 
in  the  very  book  where  he  advises  against 
putting  new  wine  into  old  bottles.,  we  still 
prefer  to  ignore  these  *' peculiar  new  senses" 
and  return  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  old 
ones.  Yet  Parkhurst  was  wiser  in  his  day 
than  later  lexicographers  whose  works,  while 
more  accurate  in  point  of  scholarship,  are 
more  often  theological  treatises  than  real  lex- 
icons, and  persistently  ignore  the  fact  that 
the  New  Testament  abounds  in  words  and 
phrases  taken  from  the  ancient  Mysteries, 
used  in  their  pagan  sense,  and  not  with  the 
wooden  meanings  invented  for  them  by  igno- 
rant monks  and  ecclesiastics.  For,  purified 
from  the  theological  atmosphere  which  now 
envelopes  them,  an  aura  of  untold  musti- 
ness  and  of  stuffiness  unutterable,  and  with 
the  technical  meanings  restored  to  the  mys- 
tical terminology,  pagan  in  origin,  which  is 


6  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

consistently  employed  in  them,  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  preeminently  the 
four  Evangels^  stand  unrivalled  in  religious 
literature,  only  a  few  other  scriptures  being 
comparable  to  them  for  depth  of  occult 
meaning,  breadth  of  moral  teaching,  height 
of  spiritual  exaltation,  or  pleroma  of  tender- 
ness and  compassion. 


THE   SERMON    ON   THE   MOUNT.* 

[Matthew  iv.  23  —  vi.  27.] 

And  lesous  went  about  all  Galilaia,  teach- 
ing in  their  assemblies,  and  proclaiming  the 
magical    Message"    of    the    Realm,    and 

*  According  to  Luke,  vi.  1 7,  the  sermon  was  de- 
livered on  a  plain,  after  ISsous  had  come  down  from 
the  mountain  (or  hill).  ** Mountains"  are  the  usual 
glyphs  for  force-centres  in  the  aura  of  man,  and  the 
psychic  and  spiritual  states  of  exaltation  to  which 
these  correspond.  (The  more  important  technical 
terms  are  indicated  by  spacing  in  this  work.) 

*  Gr.  evangelzotiy  of  which  **good  tidings"  is  an 
inadequate  rendering;  it  is  a  magical  Message, 
precisely  as  the  angeloi  are  magical  Messengers — 
ethereal  beings  of  every  degree,  from  the  high  Gods 
down  to  mere  magnetic  breaths.  The  ''Evangel  of 
the  Realm"  (basileia)  is  the  instruction  concerning 
the  "open  eye"  and  its  awakening  through  the  action 
of  the  Breath  (pneuma)  or  electric  Fire — the 
••Fiery  Power"  and  ••World-Mother"  of  The  Voice 
of  the  Silence.  The  Breath  becomes  the  "Advo-  ' 
cate  with  the  Father"  {paraklHos,  mistranslated 
••Comforter"  in  the  authorized  version).  The 
Breath  {pneuma^  wind,  air,  spirit)  is,  mystically, 
the  Ether  of  Space;  in  man,  the  vital  principle,  or 


8  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

healing  every  disease  and  weakness  among 
the  people.  And  the  rumor  of  him  went 
abroad  into  all  Syria ;  and  they  brought  to 
him  all  who  were  ill,  being  afflicted  with 
various  diseases  and  torments,  and  obsessed 
by  evil  spirits,  and  moon-stricken,  and  para- 
lyzed, and  he  healed  them.  And  large 
crowds  followed  him  from  Galilaia,  and  Dek- 

electric  Fire.  It  is  sevenfold,  as  given  in  Rev.  v. 
6-14:  "And  I  saw  in  the  midst  of  the  Throne  [chair 
of  Initiation]  and  of  the  Four  Beings,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  Ancients,  a  Lamb  [Neophyte]  standing, 
as  though  it  had  been  sacrificed  [initiated],  having 
seven  horns  [or,  "wing-like  appearances"  —  auric 
radiations]  and  seven  eyes  [the  seven  centres  of  the 
Breath],  which  are  the  Seven  Breaths  of  The 
God  sent  forth  into  all  the  Earth  [psychic  world]. 
.  .  .  And  I  heard  a  Voice  of  many  Messen- 
gers \angeloi\  .  .  .  thousands  of  thousands, 
saying  with  a  mighty  Voice,  'Worthy  is  the  Lamb 
that  was  sacrificed,  to  receive  the  Force  and  wealth 
and  knowledge  and  power  and  majesty  and  Radi- 
ance and  good-will.'  And  every  embodied  thing 
which  is  in  the  sky  and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  and  on  the  sea,  and  all  [things]  in  them,  heard 
I  saying:  *To  him  who  sits  upon  the  Throne,  and 
to  the  Lamb,  the  good-will  and  the  majesty  and  the 
Radiance  and  the  strength  throughout  the  On- 
goings of  the  On-goings  !'    And  the  Four  Beings 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  9 

apolis,  and  Hierousalem,  and  loudaia,  and  the 
Other  side  of  the  lordanos.  But  when  he 
saw  the  crowds,  he  went  up  into  the  moun- 
tain; and  when  he  was  seated  his  pupils 
came  to  him,  and  he  opened  his  mouth  and 
taught  them,   saying: 

Immortal '    [are]    the   supplicants   in   the 

said  * Am^n. ' "  (The  O  n  -  g  o  i  n  g  s  are  the  Life-cycles ; 
the  Greek  awn  being  from  the  same  root  as  the 
Sanskrit  /,  "to  g©.")  The  above  initiation  scene 
from  the  Apocalypse  may  be  paralleled  with  the 
one  which  concludes  The  Voice  of  the  Silence :  * '  In 
songs  of  praise  both  heaven  and  earth  unite.  And 
from  the  fourfold  manifested  Powers  a  chant  of  love 
ariseth.  .  .  .  From  the  deep,  unfathomable  vortex 
of  that  golden  light  in  which  the  Victor  bathes,  all 
Nature's  wordless  voice  in  thousand  tones  ariseth." 
*  Gr.  makarios,  free  from  fate  or  death,  emanci- 
pated, immortal.  The  word  is  descriptive' Vf  the 
^Tate  of  the  Gods,  and  connotes  both  bliss  and 
deathlessness.  The  makardn  nesoi,  "Ist^of  the 
IiHinOftals" — the  Gods  and  deified  dead — were 
golden  islands  floating  in  the  blue  ocean  at  the 
extreme  West;  and  there  the  blest  dwelt  in  "a  tear- 
less eternity."  The  pagans  apotheosized  their  heroes, 
the  R.  C.  Church  canonizes  its  saints ;  and  the  first 
step  towards  canonization  is  the  beatification,  or  pub- 
lic declaration  that  the  individual  is  received  into 
heaven  ( whether  the  western  heaven  of  sunset  skies 


lO  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

Breath:  because  theirs  is  the  Realm  of 
the  Skies. ' 

Immortal  [are]  those  who  mourn :  because 
they  shall  be  interceded  for.  "^ 

Immortal  [are]  the  tranquil  ones:'  because 
they  shall  inherit  the  Earth. 

or  not,  Jehovah  alone  knows)  and  should  be  rever- 
enced as  one  of  the  Blest.  The  makarioi  are  the 
souls  freed  from  the  bondage  of  re-birth. 

^  Gr.  ouranoi,  skies,  considered  to  be  the  abode 
of  ethereal  beings  and  Gods.  Symbolically,  the 
different  states  or  strata  of  the  earth's  aura.  In  the 
singular,  ouranos,  visible  space,  the  vault  of  the  sky ; 
the  conception  appears  to  be  that  of  a  hollow  globe 
ensphering  the  earth  and  constituting  a  world  for  the 
Gods,  who  move  upon  its  surface  as  men  do  upon 
earth.  Asa  God,  Ouranos  is  the  husband  of  Gaia, 
Earth;  the  two  symbolizing  respectively  the  spirit- 
ual (sidereal)  and  psychic  aspects  of  the  earth's  aura 
— the  sphere  of  star-stuff  surrounding  it,  the  astral 
(starry)  light.  They  who,  by  the  evocation  of  the 
Breath,  or  Fiery  Power,  awaken  the  "single  eye" 
attain  to  this  sidereal  world. 

^  When  the  soul,  after  ages  of  immersion  in  matter, 
out  of  world-weariness  longs  for  its  primal  home, 
then  the  Breath  becomes  its  Advocate  (para- 
kletos)  with  its  Father,  or  Real  Self,  who  "has 
naught  to  do  with  the  purgations  of  matter." 

^  Or,  "dispassionate  ones."     Inner  tranquility  or 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  II 

Immortal  [are]  they  who  hunger  and  thirst 
after  right-conduct : '  because  they  shall  be 
provided  for.  * 

Immortal  [are]  they  who  show  compassion : 
because  they  shall  have  compassion  shown 
them. ' 

Immortal  [are]  the  pure  in  heart :  *  because 
they  shall  see  The  God.  ' 

Immortal  [are]  the  peace-makers :°  because 
they  shall  be  called  Sons  of  a  God. 

quiet  gives   vision   of    the  higher  psychic   regions, 
{gam.  Earth  as  a  subtile  element). 

*  Gr.  dzkazosune,  the  practice  of  rectitude ;  the 
perfect  performance  of  duty  which  leads  to  illumin- 
ation. To  aspiration  for  guidance  in  life,  the  soul 
itself  gives  answer. 

"Literally,   "be  feasted." 

^  Compassion  being  the  purest  manifestation  of 
the  World- Soul. 

*  By  all  ancient  peoples  the  heart  was  regarded  as 
the  seat  of  the  soul.  Purity  of  soul  brings  the  vision 
of  the  Master  or  real  Self. 

*  The  definite  article  is  retained  in  translating,  as 
theos,  without  the  article,  does  not  always  mean  the 
Supreme  Deity  in  the  New  Testament. 

"Those  who  attain  to  "that  sacred  peace  which 
nothing  can  disturb,  and  in  which  the  soul  grows  as 
does  the  holy  flower  upon  the  still  lagoons." 


12  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

Immortal  [are]  those  who  have  been  ex- 
iled ^  on  account  of  right-conduct ;  because 
theirs  is  the  Realm  of  the  Skies.'' 

Immortal  are  you  when  they  shall  upbraid 
you,  and  exile  you/  and  say  every  useless 
word*  concerning-  you  falsely,  on  my  ac- 1 
count.  Rejoice  and  become  ecstatic;*  be- 
cause your  recompense  is  great  in  the  Skies; 
for  in  this  way  they  exiled  the  Seers  °  who 
were  before  you.      You  are  the  salt  of  the 

*  Literally,  "hunted,"  "driven  away,"  "banished." 
»  Referring  to  the  highest  of  the  men-immortals, 

those  souls  who,  though  having  reached  emancipa- 
tion from  the  bondage  of  re-birth,  voluntarily  incar- 
nate as  teachers.  This  properly  ends  the  series  of 
nine  classes  of  Immortals,  the  last  possessing,  like 
the  first,  "the  Realm  of  the  Skies,"  or  divine 
Seership. 

*  This  paragraph  is  simply  in  antithesis  to  the  last, 
as  the  self-exiles  are  usually  slandered  and  exiled  by 
the  mob  of  profane  mankind  whom  they  are  trying 
to  aid. 

*  Or,  "Idle  gossip." 

^  Gr.  agalliathenai,  to  be  frenzied  with  exulta- 
tion, to  be  mad  with  delight.  Here  referring  to  the 
mantic  frenzy  of  the  Seer. 

*  Gr.  prophetis,  one  who  interpretes,  or  declares, 
the  will  of  the  Gods. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  13 

Earth.*  But  if  the  salt  becomes  tasteless, 
with  what  shall  it  be  salted  ?  It  is  good  for 
nothing  any  more  but  to  be  thrown  outside 
and  be  trampled  on  by  men.  You  are  the 
light  of  the  world.''  A  town  lying  on  the 
hills  can  not  be  concealed. '  Neither  do  they 
bum  a  lamp  and  put  it  under  the  measure/ 
but  in  the  lampstand,  and  it  gives  light  for 
all  who  are  in  the  house.  In  the  same  way 
let  ^our  light  shine  in  front  of  men,  that 
they  may  see  your  good  [magical]  works/ 
and  add  Radiance*  to  your  Father  who  is 
in  the  Skies. 

^  The  stable  and  pure  soiils  of  the  psychic  world. 

'  Embodied  souls. 

'A  sacred  city  among  the  ancients  was  usually 
built  upon  a  mountain  or  hill,  natural  or  artificial,  a 
crypt  or  underground  chamber  beneath  the  temple 
being  used  for  the  sacred  rites. 

^  Luke^  xi.  33,  reads  "in  a  crjrpt,"  or  cellar. 

*  Gr.  ergon,  a  work  or  operation ;  a  word  tectmi- 
cally  applied  to  the  dramatic  performance  of  the 
ritual,  by  the  leitourgos  or  priest,  or  the  display  of 
phenomena  by  the  theourgoSy  magician,  or  thauma- 
tourgos,  marvel-maker. 

"  Gr.  doxa,  opinion,  praise,  glory ;  fancy,  dream, 
vision ;  splendor,  brightness,  brilliant  luminosity — the 
aura  or  spiritual  radiance. 


14  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

Do  not  suppose  that  I  am  come  to  abolish 
the  Law  or  the  Seers.  I  am  not  come  to 
abolish  but  to  make  full.  Amen/  for  I  say- 
to  you,  Till  the  Sky  and  the  Earth  pass 
away,  not  one  letter  i  or  one  accent  shall 
pass  away  from  the  Law,  until  all  things 
come  into  being.  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall 
relax  one  of  these  very  little  commands,  and 
teach  men  so,  shall  receive  a  very  little  name 
in  the  Realm  of  the  Skies;  but  whosoever 
shall  make  full,  and  so  teach,  that  [man] 
shall  receive  a  great  name  in  the  Realm  of 
the  Skies.  For  I  say  to  you,  Unless  your 
right-conduct  much  excels  that  of  the  Re- 
corders ^  and  the  Pharisaians,  you  surely  shall 
not  enter  into  the  Realm  of  the  Skies. 

You  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  the 
people  of  old  : 

*  The  Greek  Amen  is  an  exact  equivalent  for  the 
Aum  or  Om,  and  has  no  such  meaning  as  "verily"  or 
"so  be  it."  It  is  the  mystic  Name  of  the  Christos, 
the  word  used  in  evoking  the  Breath.  "These 
[things]  saith  the  Amen,  the  Witness  trustworthy 
and  true,  the  First  of  the  Foundation  {ktzszs)  of 
The  God"  {Rev,  iii.  14). 

^  Gr.  grammateus,  a  scribe,  secretary;  one  learned 
in  the  Law. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  1 5 

**You*  should  do  no  murder; 

**And  whosoever  shall  do  murder  shall 
be  liable  to  the  judgment."^ 
But  /  say  to  you.  Every  man  who  rashly 
becomes  angry  with  his  brother  shall  be 
liable  to  the  judgment;'  and  whosoever  shall 
say  to  his  brother,  ''Dolt,"*  shall  be  liable 
to  the  High  Council ; "  and  whosoever  shall 
say,  **You  soulless  being,"'  shall  be  liable 
to  the  Burning  Valley^  of   the  Fire.      If, 

*  The  singular  pronoun  is  here  distinguished  from 
the  plural  by  being  spaced. 

^  Ex.  XX.  13;  Deut,  xvi.  18. 

'  Meaning  an  inferior  court  of  judicature,  consist- 
ing of  seven  judges,  according  to  Josephus,  though 
the  Rabbins  say  of  twenty-three. 

*  Raka,  a  contemptuous  expression ;  its  precise 
meaning  is  unknown  or  from  what  language  it  is 
derived. 

'  Gr.  sunedrzon,  a  sitting  together ;  a  council. 

*  Gr.  nioros,  tasteless,  insipid,  mad ;  an  evident 
reference  to  the  preceding  passage,  "if  the  salt  be- 
comes tasteless,"  where  the  verb  is  a  derivative  of 
moros, 

'Gr.  gehenna,  after  Heb.  ge  hinnom.  Valley  of 
Hinnom,  which  was  devoted  to  crematorial  purposes. 
It  is  the  opposite  of  Paradise,  and  symbolizes  the 
animal  passions  in  man. 


l6  THE   SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

therefore,  you  are  bringing  your  votive- 
gift  towards  the  place  for  offerings,  and 
there  remember  that  your  brother  has  any- 
thing against  you,  leave  there  your  votive- 
gift  in  front  of  the  place  for  offerings,  and 
withdraw ;  first  be  reconciled  with  your 
brother,  and  then  come  and  bring  your 
votive-gift.*  Be  of  kindly  disposition  towards 
your  opponent  promptly  until  you  are  on 
the  Path  with  him,  lest  perhaps  the  oppon- 
ent deliver  you  up  to  the  judge,  and  the 
judge  deliver  you  up  to  the  officer,  and 
you  be  cast  into  prison.^  Amen,  I  say  to 
you.  You  shall  not  come  out  thence  until 
you  have  paid  the  very  last  farthing. 
You  have  heard  that  it  was  said: 

*  Freedom  from  all  uncharitable  and  impure 
thoughts  is  imperative  before  beginning  the  mystic 
meditation,  else  will  the  Fire,  instead  of  rising  to 
Paradise  (the  occult  brain  centres),  strike  downward 
into  the  centres  of  animal  passions — an  actual  ''hell" 
a  trifle  worse  than  the  fanciful  one  of  the  orthodox. 
Similarly,  a  group  of  students  who  are  not  in  perfect 
harmony  while  studying  will  only  arouse  the  impure 
and  malignant  forces  of  the  animal  soul. 

'The  prison  is  simply  the  physical  body,  which 
the  offending  soul  will  be  compelled  to  inform. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  17 

**You  should  not  commit  adultery."* 
But  /  say  to  you^  Every  one  who  looks  at 
a  woman  to  lust  after  her  has  already  com- 
mitted adultery  with  her  in  his  heart.  Now, 
if  your  right  eye  ensnare  you/  pluck  it 
out  and  cast  it  from  you  :  for  it  is  an  advan- 
tage to  you  that  one  of  your  members  per- 
ish, and  not  your  whole  body  be  cast  into 
the  Burning  Valley.  And  if  your  right 
hand  ensnare  you,  cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from 
you:  for  it  is  an  advantage  to  you  that 
one  of  your  members  perish,  and  not  your 
whole  body  be  cast  into  the  Burning  Valley.' 
But  it  was  said: 

**  Whosoever  puts  away  his  wife, 
**Let  him  give  her  a  divorce."* 
But  /  say  to  you^  Every  one  who  puts  away 
his  wife,  except  for  the  cause  of  harlotry, 
makes  her  become  an  adulteress ;  and  he  who 

*  Ex,  XX.  14. 

'More  literally,  "trip  you  up." 

•  Referring  to  a  dangerous  reflex  action  between 
the  higher  and  lower  centres  of  the  Breath;  the 
terms  "right  eye"  and  "right  hand"  having  each  a 
special  mystic  sense. 

^  Deut,  xxiv.  1-3. 


i8  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

marries  her  who  is  put  away  commits  adul- 
tery. 

Again,  you  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to 
the  people  of  old: 

^  *  Y  o  u  should  not  foreswear  yourself, ' 
**But  should  pay  unto  the  Master  your 
oaths."  ^ 

But  /  say  to  you^  Do  not  confirm  by  an 
oath  at  all ;  neither  by  the  Sky,  for  it  is  the 
throne  of  The  God;'  nor  by  the  Earth, 
for  it  is  the  footstool  of  his  feet;*  nor  by 
Hierousalem,  for  it  is  the  city  of  the  great 
Ruler  ;^  ^  neither  swear  you  by  your  head, 
for  you  can  not  make  one  hair  white  or 
black.  But  let  your  saying  be  Yes,  yes; 
No,  no;  for  that  which  is  more  than  these 
is  of  the  useless  [person].^ 

*  Gr.  epiorkein,  to  violate  one's  oath ;  to  swear 
falsely.      Here  both  meanings  are  intended. 

^  Ex.  XX.  7;  Lev,  xix.  12. 
^  Is  a.  Ixvi.  I. 

*  Is  a.  Ixvi.  I. 
^  Ps.  xlviii.  2. 

^  Gr.  basileus,  king ;  the  hierophant  of  the  nation- 
al Mysteries. 

'  Or,  "of  no  use."  Gr.  poneros,  useless,  depraved; 
a  term  applied  to  the  profane    and  to  those  who 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  I9 

You  have  heard  that  it  was  said: 
**An  eye  for  an  eye, 

"And  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"*  \ 

But  /  say  to  j^w,  Resist  not  the  useless  1 

[person];  but  whosoever  shall  slap  you  on  \ 

your  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also;  1 

and  him  who  would  sue  y  o  u  at  law  and  take  i 

your  frock,"  let  him  have  your  mantle 
also;    and  whosoever   shall   press  you  into  , 

service' for  one  mile,  go  with  him  two.     To  « 

him  who  begs  of  you,  give;  and  from  him 
who  would  borrow  of  you,  turn  not  away. 
You  have  heard  that  it  was  said : 
'*You  should  love  your  neighbor, 
"And  hate  your  enemy."* 
But  /  say  to  j/ou^  Love  your  enemies,  and 
speak  well  of  those  who  call  down  curses 
upon  you;   do  rightly  by  those   who   hate 

practise  the  magic  arts,  or  sorcerers;  as  opposed  to 
chrSstoSy  noble,  worthy,  bestowed  upon  the  neophyte. 

'  Ex.  xxi.  24. 

'Gr.  chiton,  a  woolen  undergarment,  or  shirt, 
reaching  to  the  knees. 

*  Referring  to  the  authority  held  by  the  king's 
courier  to  press  people  into  service  for  the  post  or 
public  service  generally. 

*  Lev.  xix.  17,  18. 


20  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

you;  offer  prayers  for  those  who  abusively 
threaten  and  pursue  you ;  that  you  may  be- 
come sons  of  your  Father  in  the  Skies,  for 
he  causes  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  useless  and 
the  good,  and  sends  rain  upon  the  just  and 
the  unjust.  For  if  you  shall  love  those  who 
love  you,  what  recompense  have  you?  Do 
not  even  the  tax-collectors  do  that?  And  if 
you  shall  welcome  your  brothers  only,  what 
do  you  more  [than  others]  ?  Do  not  even 
the  masses*  do  the  same?  You,  therefore, 
shall  be  Perfect,'  even  as  your  Father, 
who  is  in  the  Skies,  is  Perfect. 

*  Gr.  ethnikoi,  people  forming  a  nation ;  the  profane. 

*  That  is,  universal,  accepting  all  men,  rejecting 
none.  The  Perfect  (teleioi)  are  the  Initiates, 
those  who  have  reached  the  Perf ecting-period 
(telos)  or  unity  with  the  Father.  Thus  Paulos  says: 
"We  talk  wisdom  among  the  Perfect,  yet  not  a 
wisdom  of  this  On-going,  nor  of  the  Archons 
[occult  teachers]  of  this  On -going,  who  are  be- 
coming of  no  account;  but  we  talk  divine  Wisdom, 
in  a  Mystery,  arcane"  (I.  Cor.  ii.  6,  7).  Or  as  said 
by  the  Christos  in  an  invocation  to  the  Father:  *'The 
Radiance  which  thou  hast  given  to  me,  /  have 
given  to  them,  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we 
are  one,  I  in  them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may 
be  made  Perfect  in  one"  {John  xvii.  23). 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  21 

Take  heed  that  you  perform  not  your  char- 
ities *  before  men,  so  as  to  be  seen  by  them, 
else  you  have  no  recompense  in  presence  of 
your  Father  who  is  in  the  Skies.  When, 
therefore,  you  perform  charities,  do  not 
sound  the  trumpet  before  you,  as  the  inter- 
preters' do  in  the  assemblies  and  in  the 
streets,  that  they  may  be  glorified  by  men. 
Amen,  I  say  to  you.  They  fully  have  their 
recompense.  But  when  you  perform  char- 
ities, let  not  your  left  hand  know  what 
your  right  hand  is  doing,  that  your  char- 
ities may  be  in  the  occult;  and  your  Father 
who  sees  in  the  occult  shall  repay  you  in 
the  manifested.  ~~^ 

And  when  you  offer  prayers,  you  shall  not 
be  as  the  interpreters;  for  they  are  very 
fond  of  standing  in  the  assemblies  and  in 
the  corners  of  the  streets  to  pray,  that  they 
may  be  seen  by  men.  Amen,  I  say  to  you. 
They  fully  have  their  recompense.  But 
when  you  offer  prayers,   enter  into  your 

*  A  reading  of  equal  authority  is  "right-conduct." 
'  Gr.  hupokritai,  "those  who  explain,"  as  actors; 

diviners,   who    professed    to    interpret  dreams  and 

omens;  pretenders,  hypocrites. 


22  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

treasure-vault/  and  when  you  have  closed 
the  door,  pray  to  your  Father  who  is  in  the 
occult,  and  your  Father  who  is  in  the  occult 
shall  repay  you  in  the  manifested. 

But  when  offering  prayers  do  not  jabber, 
like  the  foreigners ;  for  they  think  that  they 
will  be  understood  because  of  their  voluble- 
ness.  Do  not  be  likened  to  them :  for  your 
Father  understands  your  need  before  you 
ask  him.      Thus,  then,  you  should  pray: 

Our  Father  who  art  in  the  Skies ^  thy 
Name  be  intoned^  ^  thy  Realm^  return^  thy 
Will*  come  into  being, 

^  Gr.  tamteton,  treasure-house,  store-room,  cellar, 
or  subterranean  vault  for  concealing  valuables ;  here 
used  symbolically  for  the  auric  sphere,  or  treasury 
of  all  the  soul's  experiences,  into  which  the  aspirant 
should  withdraw  and  "close  the  door" — that  is, 
insulate  himself  magnetically — before  evoking  the 
Breath,  or  Fiery  Power. 

^  Gr.  hagiazesthai,  to  be  consecrated  [  to  the 
Gods],  made  sacred;  to  be  purified.  The  Name  is 
the  Am^n,  or  word  used  in  evoking  the  Breath. 
The  whole  prayer,  in  the  Greek,  is  a  magical  chant. 

^  Divine  seer  ship. 

*  The  self-creativ&  power  of  the  monogenis,  the 
one  "born  from  one  [parent],"  that  is,  born  from 
himself  as  his  own  Father. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  23 

As  in  the  Sky,  so  on  th£EA'^th,^ 
That  Bread  of'T^he  coming  day^  give  us 
to-day ;  and  free  us  from  our  obligations,  as 
WE  also  have  freed  those  under  obligation  to 
us;  and  bring  us  not  to  the  test,^  but  deliver 
us  from  uselessness.^ 

*  The  psychic  nature  has  become  pure  like  the  * 
spiritual. 

^  Gr.  epiousiofi,  a  coined  word  found  nowhere  ex- 
cept in  this  prayer;  it  clearly  does  not  mean  '*  daily," 
but  evidently  "which  is  coming"  or  **of  the  future." 
The  Bread  is  the  "Bread  of  Life,"  of  which  the 
Christos  says:  "/  am  that  Living  Bread  that  came 
down  out  of  the  Sky.  If  any  one  eats  of  this  bread 
he  shall  live  throughout  the  On-going"  (fohn 
vi.  51). 

'  Gr.  pezrasmos,  a  proving,  trial,  experiment. 
When  the  Fire  of  the  Parakletos  is  aroused  it  is 
liable  to  strike  downward  into  the  generative  cen- 
tres, if  the  man  is  not  sufficiently  purified,  instead  of 
going  upward  to  the  brain  centres  (the  "Realm  of 
the  Skies").  This  is  the  terrible  test  of  his  purity; 
and  he  who  fails  finds  himself  in  the  "Burning 
Valley  of  the  Fire,"  and  in  danger  of  death  or  in- 
sanity. But  if  perfectly  pure  he  is  not  brought  to 
this  test. 

■•  All  the  conditions  and  incidents  of  earth-life,  for 
each  incarnate  man,  being  regulated  for  him  by  his 
own  soul  or  mystic  "Father"  as  a  training  through 


24  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

For  thine  is  the  Realm,  the  Force  and 
the  Radiance,^  throughout  the  On-goings. 
Amin! 

For  if  you  forgive  men  their  mistakes, 
your  Father,  he  of  the  Sky,  will  also  forgive 
you;  but  if  you  do  not  forgive  men,  neither 
will  your  Father  forgive  your  mistakes. 

But  when  you  fast,  do  not  become,  like  the 
interpreters,  of  sullen  face:  for  they  cloud 
over  their  faces,  that  they  may  be  seen ''  by 
men  to  be  fasting.  Amen,  I  say  to  you, 
They  fully  have  their  recompense.  But 
when  you  fast,  annoint  your  head  and  wash 
your  face,  that  you  may  not  be  seen  by 
men  to  be  fasting,  but  by  your  Father  who 
is  in  the  occult;  and  your  Father  who  sees 
in  the  occult  will  repay  you  in  the  mani- 
fested. 

Do  not  treasure  up  for  yourselves  treasures 

which  he  may  rise  from  the  uselessness  of  a  mere 
"image"  (eiddlon)  to  be  a  Master-builder  in  spatial 
life. 

*  Gr.  doxa^  shining ;  the  auric  body  of  the  Self- 
bom. 

'•There  is  an  untranslatable  play  on  the  words 
here  used:  "they  make  their  faces  unseen  in  such 
wise  that  they  may  be  seen.'' 


THE   SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  25 

Upon  the  Earth,'  where  moth"  and  rust' 
cloud  over,  and  where  thieves  dig  through 
and  steal;  but  treasure  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  in  a  Sky  where  neither  moth  nor 
rust  clouds  over,  and  where  thieves  do  not 
dig  through  and  steal:  for  where  your  treas- 
ure is,  there  also  will  be  your  heart.*  The 
lamp  of  the  body  is  the  Eye.  If,  therefore, 
your  Eye  be  open,^  your  whole  body  will 
be  luminous;  but  if  your  Eye  be  useless,' 
your  .whole  body  will  be  dark.  If,  there- 
fore, the  Light  which  is  in  you  is  darkness, 
how  great  is  the  darkness! 

No  one  can  serve  two  Masters:  for  either 

*  "Earth"  is  the  psychic  world,  the  bride  of  the 
••Sky,"  the  sidereal  or  spiritual.  Knowledge  stored 
up  in  the  psychic  nature  is  impermanent,  nor  can  it 
be  guarded  against  the  followers  of  the  ••left-hand 
path,"  who  dig  through  and  steal. 

*  Gr.  sis,  any  small  insect,  as  a  clothes-moth  or  a 
bookworm. 

'  Gr.  broszs,  eating,  gnawing ;  its  use  in  this  pass- 
age is  peculiar,  and  some  good  authorities  translate 
it  as  •' corn-worm"  instead  of  "corrosion,"  or  ••rust." 

*  The  mystic  ••heart,"  whose  throbbing  opens  that 
inner  ••eye"  which  is  the  •'lamp  of  the  body." 

'Gr.  haplous,  unfolded,  clear,  open. 

•Gr.  ponSros,  here  equivalent  to  ••atrophied." 


26  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other,  or 

;  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  disregard  the 

other.     You  can  not  be  devoted  to  a  God 

J  and  to  a  Mamonas.^     Because  of  this  I  say 

iito  you,    Do   not  be   concerned  about   your 

^"^  psychic  body,^  what  you  shall  eat  and  what 

you  shall  drink ;  neither  for  your  body,  what 

you  shall  wear.      Is   not  the  psychic  body 

more  than  the  food,  and  the  body  than  the 

garment?      Look  at  the  birds  of  the  Sky, 

that  they  do  not  sow,  nor  do  they  reap,  nor 

gather  into  granaries,  yet  your  Father,  he  of 

the  Sky,  feeds  them.     Are  not  you  of  much 

more  value  than  they?  Now,  what  one  among 

you  by  being  concerned  can  add  one  single 

arm-length '^  to  his  height?      And  why  then 

*  The  precise  meaning  of  this  word  is  unknown. 
It  is  supposed  to  signify  "gain;"  and  some  have 
supposed  Mam6nas  to  be  a  God  worshipped  in 
Syria,  and  equivalent  to  PloutSn,  as  god  of  wealth 
and  of  the  Under-world. 

*  Gr.  psucM,  the  semi-material  body,  or  psuchikon 
sdma.  When  it  is  clouded  by  food-fumes,  psychic 
vision  is  obscured — a  matter  of  consequence  to  psy- 
chics, but  not  to  those  who  see  with  the  "open  eye." 

^  Gr.  pechus,  elbow ;  the  measure  of  the  arm  from 
the  elbow  to  the  finger-tips. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  27 

are  you  concerned  about  a  garment?  Medi- 
tate on  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow : 
they  do  not  weary  themselves  with  toil,  nor 
do  they  spin;  yet  I  say  to  you,  Even  Sol- 
omon in  all  his  Radiance*  was  not  arrayed 
like  one  of  these.  ^  Now,  if  The  God  so 
robes  the  plant  of  the  field,  which  to-day 
lives  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven, 
[shall  he]  not  much  more  [robe]  you^  O  you 
of  little  intuition?  Do  not  be  concerned, 
therefore,  saying,  ** What  shall  we  eat?"  or, 
**What'  shall  we  drink?"  or,  *^With  what 
shall  we  be  arrayed?"  For  after  all  these 
things  the  outsiders  ^  seek.  For  your  Father, 
he  of  the  Sky,  knows  that  you  need  all  these 
things.  But  seek  first  the  Realm  of  The 
God,  and  his  right-conduct;  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  to  you.  Therefore  do 
not  be  concerned  about  the  morrow ;  for  the 
morrow  will  be  concerned  about  itself:  suf- 
ficient for  the  day  is  its  own  vexation. 

*  Gr.  doxuy  shining,  the  aura. 
"^  Kings  X.  1-29. 

•  Gr.  ethnos,  people  living  together,  family,  band, 
tribe,  race;  particular  class  of  men;  here  denoting 
special  castes  of  pseudo-occultists. 


28  THE    SERMON    ON    THE   MOUNT. 

Judge  not,  that  you  may  not  be  judged: 
for  with  what  judgment  you  judge  you 
shall  be  judged,  and  with  what  measure  you 
measure  it  shall  be  measured  back  to  you. 
And  why  do  you  look  at  that  shaving*  in 
your  brother's  eye,  but  do  not  perceive  the 
beam  which  is  in  your  own  eye?  Or  how 
shall  you  say  to  your  brother,  *'Let  me 
pull  the  shaving  out  of  your  eye,"  and, 
look,  there  is  the'  beam  in  your  own  eye? 
Interpreter,  first  pull  the  beam  out  of  your 
own  eye,  and  then  you  will  see  clearly  to 
pull  the  shaving  out  of  your  brother's  eye. 

Give  not  the  sanctuary  to  the  dogs ;  neither 
throw  your  pearls  in  front  of  the  pigs,  lest 
perchance  they  trample  on  them  with  their 
feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  you.  ^ 

Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  to  you  ;  seek, 
and  you  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be 

*Gr.  karphos,  a  straw,  a  small  chip  or  shaving; 
here  contrasted  with  dokos^  a  beam  or  joist.  As 
lesous  was  a  carpenter's  son,  the  simile  is  an  artistic 
touch  of  local  color. 

^  The  inner  life  and  psychic  experiences  should  be 
spoken  of  only  to  those  who  will  understand  what  is 
said,  and  not  to  the  ignorant  and  the  incredulous. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  29 

opened  to  you ;  for  every  one  who  asks  re- 
ceives ;  and  who  seeks,  finds ;  and  [to  him] 
who  knocks,  it  shall  be  opened.  Or  what 
man  among  you,  if  his  son  shall  ask  him  for 
a  loaf,  will  give  him  a  stone?  Or  if  he  ask 
for  a  fish,  also,  will  give  him  a  snake?  If 
you^  therefore,  who  are  useless  ones,  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your  children,  how 
much  more  shall  your  Father  who  is  in  the 
Skies  give  good  things*  to  those  who  ask 
him?  All  things,  therefore,  that  you  wish 
men  should  do  to  you,  even  so  do  you  also 
to  them :  for  such  is  the  Law  and  the 
Seers.  ^ 

Enter  in  by  the  narrow  gate :  for  wide  [is] 
the  gate  and  spacious  the  path  which  leads 
to  the  Loss,'  and  many  are  they  who  enter 
in  through  it ;  for  narrow  is  the  gate  and 

^  Luke  xi.  13,  reads,  "give  the  Purifying 
Breath." 

'The  outer  form  and  the  inner  meaning. 

'Gr.  apoleia,  a  destroying;  ruin;  losing  (espe- 
cially losing  life).  Here,  the  word  is  used  in  opposi- 
tion to  Life,  and  the  passage  refers  to  the  down- 
ward path  of  the  Breath,  leading  to  generation  in 
the  physical  world,  or  world  of  Death. 


30  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

hemmed-in  the  path  which  leads  to  the 
Life,'  and  few  are  they  who  find  it.  Now, 
beware  of  the  false  Seers  who  come  to  you 
in  sheep's  clothing,'*  but  within  are  plunder- 
ing wolves.  By  their  fruits  you  shall  recog- 
nize them.  Do  they  gather  a  cluster  of 
grapes  from  thorns,  or  figs  from  prickly 
plants?  Even  so  every  good  tree  produces 
useful  fruits,  but  the  rotten  tree  produces 
useless  fruits.  A  good  tree  can  not  produce 
useless  fruits,  nor  a  rotten  tree  produce  use- 
ful fruits.  Every  tree  which  does  not  pro- 
duce useful  fruit  is  cut  down  and  thrown 
into  [the]  fire.  Hence,  surely,  by  their 
fruits  you  will  recognize  them. 

Not  every  one  who  says  to  me,  ^*  Master, 
Master,"  shall  enter  into  the  Realm  of  the 
Skies;  but  he  who  does  the  Will  of  my 
Father  who  is  in  the  Skies.  Many  will 
say  to  me  on  that  day:  ''Master,  Master, 
in  your  Name  have  we  not  interpreted? 
And  in  your  Name  cast  out  spirits?  And 
in  your  Name  performed  many  magical 

^  The  upward  path  of  the  Breath,  leading  to  the 
mystic  birth  "from  above." 

^  Sorcerers  simulating  the  auras  of  neophytes. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  3 1 

feats?  "^  And  then  I  shall  say  plainly  to 
them,  **I  never  knew  you;  ^  depart  from  me, 
you  who  who  would  make  a  practice  of  sor- 
cery."' Every  one,  therefore,  who  hears 
these  sayings*  of  mine  and  does  them,  I 
will  liken  to  a  sensible  man  who  built  his 
house  upon  the  rock;  and  the  rain  descended, 
and  the  streams  came,  and  the  winds  blew, 
and  assailed  that  house;  and  it  did  not  fall, 
for  its  foundation  was  laid  upon  the  rock. 
And  every  one  who  hears  these  sayings 
of  mine  and  does  not  do  them,  shall  be  lik- 
ened to  a  stupid  man  who  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand;  and  the  rains  descended,  and 
the  streams  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and 
assailed  that  house;  and  it  fell,  and  great 
was  its  fall. 

*  Or,  "aroused  many  Forces." 
'Or,  "approved  of  you." 

'  Gr.  anomia,  lawlessness,  as  opposed  to  dikaias- 
uni,  right-conduct;  violation  of  the  Law  {nomas) 
of  the  right-hand  path. 

*  Gr.  logos,  the  inner  thought  and  its  outer  expres- 
sion; statement,  story,  myth;  maxim,  precept,  pro- 
verb; declaration  of  an  oracle. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  CHRISTOS." 

[I.   Corinthians,  xv.  35-57.] 

But  some  one  will  say,  **How  are  the 
dead  ones'*  raised  up,  and  with  what  sort 
of  body  do  they  come?" 

Thoughtless  one,  that  which  you  sow  is 
not  made  living  unless  it  dies,  and  that 
which  you  sow,  you  do  not  sow  the  body 
which  will  come  into  being,  but  a  naked 
grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat  or  of  some 
other  [kinds];  but  The  God  gives  it  a  body 
just  as  he  has  determined,  and  to  each  of 
the  things  sown  its  own  proper  body.  All 
flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh :  but  there  is  one 
[flesh]  of  men,  another  of  animals,  another 
of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds.     And  [there 

^  Gr.  christoSy  washed,  anointed  with  oil  ( after 
bathing).  The  Christos  is  the  one  Anointed  by 
the  Breath  or  universal  Spirit. 

*The  question  is  put  literally,  referring  to  those 
who  are  dead  in  the  ordinary  sense ;  but  the  answer 
is  a  play  upon  the  word,  applying  it  in  a  mystical 
sense  to  those  who  are  prisoned  in  the  physical  body. 


THE   COMING    OF    THE    CHRISTOS.  33 

are]  bodies  of  Sky-substance  and  bodies  of 
Earth-substance;'  but  [there  is]  a  certain 
Radiance*  of  those  of  Sky-substance, 
and  a  different  [Radiance]  of  those  of 
Earth-substance;  one  Radiance  of  the 
Sun,  and  another  Radiance  of  the  Moon, 
and  another  Radiance  of  the  Stars — for 
Star  differs  from  Star  in  Radiance.  Thus, 
also,  is  the  Resuscitation  of  the  dead 
ones.  It  is  sown  in  a  destroying,  raised 
in  indestructibility;  sown  in  a  disesteeming, 
raised  in  Radiance;  sown  in  a  weakening, 
raised  in  force;  sown  as  a  psychic  body, 
raised  as  a  Breath  body.'  There  is  a  psychic 
body,  and  there  is  a  Breath  body;  hence  it 

*  Referring  to  states  of  matter  in  the  psychic  and 
sidereal  worids. 

^  Gr.  doxa,  shining,  the  aura.  The  **sun"  and 
"moon"  are  the  positive  and  negative  aspects  of  the 
Parakletos  ;  and  the  "stars"  are  the  force-centres, 
each  of  which  manifests  a  different  color. 

*  Before  man,  the  "dead  one,"  can  regain  his  di- 
vine state,  and  be  "born  from  above"  in  the  self- 
shining  spiritual  body,  he  must  destroy  his  passional 
nature  and  rise  to  the  permanent  part  of  his  being ; 
discarding  material  desires,  he  rises  to  the  psychic 
life,    in   the   aura    or   "radiance";   then   through  a 


34  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

is  written,  **The  first  man,  Adam,  came  into 
being  in  a  psychic  form,"  ^  the  last  Adam  in 
a  life-producing  Breath.  Yet  the  Breath 
[body]  was  not  first,  but  the  psychic;  after- 
wards the  Breath  [body].      The  first  man 

'•weakening,"  a  renunciation  of  psychic  powers,  he 
rises  in  the  magical  *' force"  (dunamis)  of  the  Para- 
kletos,  or  the  Holy  Breath  acting  as  the  mediator 
(mesites)  between  individual  man  and  the  One 
Self.  The  man  whose  only  conscious  life  is  in  his 
physical  body  is  "dead";  his  resuscitation  begins  in 
the  psychic  and  is  perfected  in  the  spiritual,  in  the 
"Breath  body"  (or,  pneumatic  body,  Gr.  pneumati- 
kos,  from  pneuma,  breath).  Compare  John  iii.  5-8: 
"If  any  one  be  not  born  of  Water  and  of  Breath 
he  can  not  enter  into  the  Realm  of  The  God. 
That  which  has  been  born  from  the  flesh  is  flesh, 
and  that  which  has  been  born  from  the  Breath  is 
Breath.  Do  not  wonder  because  I  said  to  you, 
'You  have  to  be  born  from  above.*  The  Breath 
breathes  where  it  wills,  and  you  hear  its  Voice, 
but  you  know  not  whence  it  comes  nor  where  it 
goes.  So  is  every  one  who  has  been  born  from  the 
Breath."  In  New  Testament  nomenclature  the 
bodies  in  the  three  manifested  worlds  are  termed 
respectively  "carnal"  (sarkikos),  "psychic"  (psu- 
chikos),  and  "pneumatic"  (pneumatikos). 

^  Gr.  psuche,  astral  body ;  psychic  nature.      The 
quotation,  if  taken  from  Gen.  ii.  7,  is  not  literal. 


THE    COMING    OF    THE    CHRISTOS.  35 

is  of  the  Earth,  of  dust ;  *  the  second  man, 
the  Master,  is  from  the  Sky.  As  dnst,  so 
also  are  they  who  are  of  dust;  and  as  that 
which  is  of  Sky -substance,  so  are  they 
who  are  of  the  Sky-substance;  and  even 
as  we  have  worn  the  likeness  of  that  which 
is  of  dust,  we  shall  also  wear  the  likeness 
of  that  which  is  of  Sky-substance.  Now, 
I  say  this,  brothers.  Flesh  and  blood  can  not 
inherit  the  Realm  of  a  God,  nor  does  the 
destructible  inherit  the  indestructible.  Be- 
hold, I  tell  you  a  Mystery:^  though  indeed 
we  shall  not  all  sleep,  yet  we  all  shall  be 
transformed,  in  the  Atom,  in  an  out-flashing 
of  an  Eye,  in  the  last  trumpet-call.'  For  a 
trumpet   shall  sound,   and   the  dead   ones 

*  Gr.  choikos,  loose  earth  or  dust  heaped  up ;  here 
used  metaphorically  for  cosmic  dust,  or  astral  sub- 
stance. 

•  Gr.  tnusteriotty  a  revealed  secret,  any  secret  or 
occult  teaching;  plural,  ta  musterm,  ceremonies  of 
initiation;  the  celebration  of  the  arcane  rites. 

^  By  rendering  atomos  * 'moment,"  and  ripe  "twink- 
ling," the  translators  of  the  authorized  version  have 
added  to  the  obscurity  of  the  "mystery"  told  in  this 
passage.  For  atomos,  "uncut,"  "that  which  is  indi- 
visible," never  means  "moment" — as  an  "atom  [of 


36  THE    SERMON    ON    THE   MOUNT. 

shall  be  raised  indestructible,  and  we  shall 
be  transformed.  For  this  destroyed  must 
be  clothed  with  indestructibility,  and  this 
mortal  ^  must  be  clothed  with  immortality. 
Now,  when  this  destroyed  shall  have  been 
clothed  with  indestructibility,  and  this  mor- 

time]  " ;  and  though  the  lexicons  give  it  this  meaning 
for  the  New  Testament  only^  the  word  does  not 
appear  in  the  New  Testament  anywhere  save  in  the 
above  passage,  where  it  refers  to  the  atomic  (non- 
molecular)  nature  of  the  pneumatic  body.  Nor  is 
ripe  found  in  the  New  Testament  elsewhere  than  in 
this  passage,  where  a  peculiar  meaning  has  been 
attributed  to  it.  The  word  signifies  primarily  the 
impetus  or  force  with  which  anything  is  thrown  or 
hurled.  The  whole  passage  relates  to  the  mystery 
of  the  projection  of  the  pneumatic  body  from  the 
"open  eye"  at  the  "last  trumpet-call,"  that  is,  the 
last  of  the  seven  spiritual  sounds  heard  in  the  mystic 
trance.  Thus  in  the  Apocalypse,  after  the  opening 
of  the  last  of  the  "seven  seals,"  "the  seven  Mes- 
sengers who  had  the  seven  trumpets  prepared 
themselves  to  sound";  and  when  the  seventh  Mes- 
senger sounded  his  trumpet  there  were  "Voices 
in  the  Sky,  saying:  'The  Realm  of  our  Master, 
and  of  his  Anointed,  has  come  into  being;  and 
he  shall  reign  throughout  the  On-goings  of  the 
On-goings.' " 

*Or,  more  literally,  "this  which  is  dead." 


THE   COMING    OF    THE    CHRISTOS.  37 

tal  shall  have  been  clothed  with  immortal- 
ity, then  shall  come  to  pass  that  saying 
which  is  written,  *  *  Death  is  swallowed  up  in 
victory."  *  Where,  O  Death,  is  your  goad? 
Where,  O  Under-world,  is  your  victory? 
The  goad  of  Death  is  error,  and  the  force 
of  error  is  the  Law.' 


[Matthew  xxiv.   1-31.] 
And  lesous  went  out,  and  was  going  from 
the  temple-courts,'  and  his  pupils  came  to 
him  to  point  out  to  him  the  buildings  of  the 

*  Is  a.  XXV.   8. 

'  That  is,  through  failure  to  attain  to  the  Christos, 
man  remains  under  the  sway  of  Death,  ( who  reigns 
over  the  material  world),  and  the  psychic  world — 
the  Under- World  (hades J;  and  illusions  of  ritualis- 
tic and-  conventional  religion  are  the  magical  force 
fdunamzsj  of  Death,  the  distortions  of  the  True 
due  to  man's  atrophied  moral  and  psychic  natures. 

'  The  temple-enclosure  (hierosj,  as  distinguished 
from  the  temple  proper  (naos).  Thus  in  I.  Cor,  iii. 
16,  17:  **Do  you  not  know  that  you  are  a  temple 
(naos)  of  a  God,  and  the  Breath  of  The  God 
dwells  in  you?  If  one  destroys  the  temple  of  The 
God,  him  The  God  will  destroy;  for  sacred  is  The 
God's  temple  which  you  are." 


38  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

temple-courts.  But  lesous  said  to  them: 
*^Do  you  not  s^e  all  these  [things]?  Amen, 
I  say  to  you,  There  shall  not  be  left  here 
one  stone  Mpon  [another]  stone  that  shall 
not  be  thrown  down."* 

Now,  as  he  sat  upon  the  Olive-tree  Hill, 
the  pupils  came  to  him  privately,  saying: 
**Tell  us:  when  shall  these  [things]  be? 
And  what  [shall  be]  the  Sign  of  your 
presence,^  and  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Per- 
fect^ of  the  On-going?"* 

And  lesous,  answering,  said  to  them: 
**  Beware  lest  any  one  lead   you  in  wan- 
dering ways:   for  many  shall  come  in  my 

^  The  outer  temple  being  a  symbol  of  the  Mys- 
teries established  among  the  people,  the  prediction 
has  been  fulfilled  literally  during  the  Christian  cycle. 

^Gr.  parousia,  the  "being  present";  but  it  may 
equally  well  mean  the  "coming"  or  "arrival."  It  is 
also  used  for  the  final  •* unveiling"  (apokalupsis)  of 
the  Inner  God  to  the  Initiate.    (See  note  2,  p.  50.) 

^  Gr.  suntelezuy  the  company  of  the  Perfect 
(teleioi),  the  Initiates. 

*  Gr.  aion,  any  definite  cycle  in  life  and  time ;  in 
this  passage  referring  to  the  2,155  years'  cycle  which 
comes  to  an  end  within  a  few  years  of  the  present 
time. 


THE   COMING    OF    THE    CHRISTOS.  39 

Name,  saying,  */  am  the  Anointed,'  and 
shall  lead  many  in  wandering  ways.  And 
you  shall  be  about  to  hear  of  wars  and  rumors 
of  wars:  see  that  you  are  not  alarmed,  for 
all  [things]  must  come  into  being;  but  the 
Perfecting-period^  is  not  yet.  For  class 
shall  rise  up  against  class,  and  realm  against 
realm ;  and  there  shall  be  privations  of  food,  * 
and  epidemics,  and  earthquakes,  according 
to  places.'  Now,  all  these  [things  are]  the 
first  of  birth-pangs.*  Then  they  shall  deliver 
you  up  to   a  hemming-in,^  and  make   you 

*  Gr.  telos^  completion,  making  perfect,  initiation 
in  sacred  Mysteries ;  a  term  applied  by  classical  writ- 
ers to  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries.  Here  it  denotes 
the  period  for  the  initiation  of  those  who,  during  the 
Life-cycle,  have,  through  purification  of  the  lower 
nature,  risen  above  the  physical  and  psychic  worlds 
and  attained  conscious  spiritual  individuality. 

*  Not  famines  only,  but  also  a  scarcity  of  food 
among  the  poorer  classes. 

'  Epidemics  and  seismic  phenomena  being  due  to 
changes  taking  place  in  the  earth's  aura. 

*  Gr.  8dis,  pain  of  child-birth.  Here  referring  to 
the  birth  of  the  new  cycle. 

•The  intensification  of  forces  increasing  the  bit- 
terness of  the  psychically  unpurified  portion  of  hu- 
manity against  the  few  purified  ones. 


40  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

wretched ;  ^  and  you  shall  be  hated  by  all 
classes  because  of  my  Name.  And  then 
many  shall  be  tripped  up,  and  shall  deliver 
up  one  another,  and  shall  hate  one  another. 
And  many  false  seers  shall  rise  up,  and  shall 
lead  many  in  wandering  ways.  And  because 
sorcery  shall  be  prevalent,  the  love  of  the 
masses'*  shall  become  cold;  but  he  who 
stands  firm  until  the  Perfecting-period, 
that  [man]  shall  be  saved.  And  this  magical 
Message  of  the  Realm  shall  be  proclaimed 
in  the  whole  inhabited  world  for  a  witness ' 
to  all  classes.  And  then  shall  come  the 
Perfecting-period.  When,  therefore,  you 
shall  see  the  foul  thing  which  depopulates* 
(which  was  spoken  of  through  Daniel  the 

>  Or,  * '  kill  you " ;  but  the  sense  here  appears  to 
be  metaphorical,   "weary  to  death." 

^  Gr.  hot  polloz\  the  many,  the  majority  (of  the 
people);  the  profane. 

*  To  "bear  witness"  is  to  remind  men  in  the  ma- 
terial world  of  that  which  they  already  know  in  the 
world  of  souls,  even  though  they  are  unable  to  corre- 
late the  two  worlds. 

*  Impurity,  such  as  Neo-Malthusianism  and  kin- 
dred forms  of  sorcery,  which  destroy  the  "holy 
place,"  the  "open   eye,"  and  cause  spiritual  death. 


THE    COMING    OF    THE    CHRISTOS.  4I 

Seer)  standing  in  the  holy  place  (he  who 
reads  let  him  understand!)^  then  let  those 
who  are  in  loudaia  flee  to  the  hills ;  let  him 
who  is  on  the  house-top  not  go  down  to  take 
the  [things]  out  of  his  house;  and  let  him 
who  is  in  the  field  not  turn  back  to  take  his 
mantle.  And  alas  for  those  who  are  with 
child  and  for  those  who  give  suck  in  those 
days!  And  pray  that  your  flight  may  not 
be  in  winter,  nor  on  a  Sabbath.  For  then 
shall  be  a  great  hemming-in,  such  as  there 
has  not  been  from  the  first  of  the  world 
until  now;  no,  nor  ever  shall  be.  And 
unless  those  days  were  shortened,  all  flesh 
would  not  be  saved ;  but  through  the  chosen 
ones  those  days  shall  be  shortened.  Then 
if  any  one  shall  say  to  you,  *  Behold,  here 
is  the  Anointed  one,'  or,  *there,'  do  not 
accept  it  as  true.  For  false  Anointed  ones 
and  false  seers  shall  rise  up,  and  shall  give 
great  Signs  and  prodigies,*  so  as  to  lead 
into  wandering  ways,  if  possible,  even  the 

*  In  English  idiom,   ••Reader,  consider  this." 
■  Gr.  teras,  omen,  portent ;  any  marvellous  appear- 
ance or  incident  due  to  hidden  causes  and  presaging 
coming  events ;  any  occult  phenomenon. 


42  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

chosen  ones.  Behold,  I  have  forewarned 
you.  If,  therefore,  they  shall  say  to  you, 
'Behold,  he  is  in  the  desert,'  do  not  go 
forth;  *  Behold,  he  is  in  the  treasure-vaults,* 
do  not  accept  [it]  as  true.  For  as  the  gleam 
comes  from  the  sunrise  and  shines  until  the 
sunset,  even  so  shall  be  the  presence  of  the 
Son  of  the  Man/ 

'*  Wheresoever  the  fallen  body  is,  there 
shall  the  eagles  be  joined  in  combat.     Now, 

*  Man  (anthrdpos)  is  a  technical  term  for  the 
manifestation  of  the  Logos  during  a  particular  Life- 
cycle.  Thus  Valentinus  says :  ' '  When  God  uttered  a 
revelation  of  himself,  this  was  called  a  Man."  Each 
of  these  "Men,"  or  Life-cycles,  lasts  approximately 
2,155  years,  or  the  twelfth  of  a  sidereal  year,  and 
each  has  its  Spiritual  Ruler  or  * '  Man  sent  forth  from 
God."  Thus,  the  measurements  of  the  New  Hierou- 
salem  are  given  according  to  ''a  measure  of  a  Man, 
that  is,  of  a  Messenger"  (Rev.  xxL  17).  The 
^onology  is  concisely  given  in  John  i.  1-7:  "In  a 
First-principle  was  [existed]  the  Logos,  and  the  Lo- 
gos was  in  relation  to  The  God,  and  the  Logos 
was  a  God.  This  [God]  it  was  who  in  a  First- 
principle  was  in  relation  to  The  God.  All  things 
came  into  being  through  him,  and  apart  from  him 
not  one  single  thing  came  into  being.  That  which 
has  come  into  being  was  Life  in  him,  and  the  Life 


THE    COMING    OF    THE    CHRISTOS.  43 

immediately  after  the  hemming-in  of  those 
days,  the  sun  shall  be  darkened,  and  the 
moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars 
shall  fall  from  the  Sky  and  the  Forces  of 
the  Skies  shall  be  vibrated/  And  then 
shall  be  manifested  in  the  Sky  the  Sign  of 
the  Son  of  the  Man ;  and  then  shall  all  the 
tribes  of  the  Earth'*  lament,  and  they  shall 
see  the  Son  of  the  Man  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  the  Sky  with  great  Force  and  Radi- 
ance; and  he  shall  send  his  Messengers 
with  the  loud  sound  of  a  trumpet-call,'  and 

was  the  Light  of  the  Men.  .  .  .  There  came 
into  being  a  Man  sent  forth  from  a  God  ;  his  name 
[was]  loannes.  This  [forerunner]  came  for  wit- 
ness that  he  might  bear  witness  about  the  Light." 

*  The  eagles  are  the  usual  glyphic  for  the  positive 
and  negative  forces  (whether  of  man  or  of  the 
Earth);  and  through  their  being  brought  into  equi- 
librium the  centres  from  which  they  emanate  will  be 
darkened,  the  forces  then  rising  to  the  next  higher 
world. 

^  The  souls  who  are  still  unable  to  rise  above  the 
psychic  world,  having  failed  to  attain  emancipation 
during  the  Life-cycle. 

•  The  Earth  is  considered  to  be  a  living  being,  hav- 
ing a  psychic  and  a  spiritual  nature;  and  it  is  to 
these  higher  planes  that  the  above  passage  relates. 


44  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

they  shall  gather  together  his  chosen  ones 
from  the  four  Winds/  from  the  one  end 
of  the  Skies  to  the  other." 

*  Those  souls  of  the  four  manifested  hierarchies 
who  have  earned  their  emancipation  and  are  entitled 
to  become  of  the  number  of  the  Perfect.  Here 
the  discourse  ends,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  cycle 
or  racial  period ;  that  which  follows  is  purely  psycho- 
physiological, applying  to  the  mikrokosm,  or  man.  Of 
the  three  parables,  or  allegories,  that  of  the  fig-tree 
relates  to  the  generative  centres,  the  fig  being  a  sym- 
bol of  generation,  both  from  the  shape  of  its  leaves 
and  from  its  peculiar  way  of  bearing  fruit ;  the  five 
sensible  and  five  stupid  virgins  with  their  "torches" 
or  "lights"  ("lamps"  is  a  mistranslation)  represent 
the  psychic  or  heart-centres;  and  the  three  servants 
(or,  properly,  "slaves")  with  their  talents  (five,  two, 
and  one,  the  one  being  buried)  stand  for  the  three 
Fires  and  the  seven  brain-centres,  the  unprofitable 
slave,  who  is  cast  into  "the  outer  darkness,"  repre- 
senting the  lunar  Fire,  as  does  the  unrepentant 
thief  in  the  allegory  of  the  Crucifixion. 


THE  TRUE   PATH    OF   POWER. 

[I.   Corinthians  xii.   1-13,  31;   xiii;  xiv.    1-6,    15-19.] 

Now,  concerning-  the  Breath-beings,^ 
brothers,  I  do  not  wish  you  to  be  ignorant. 
You  know  that  you  were  once  of  the  out- 
siders, deceived  by  means  of  those  voiceless 
Shells,''  even  as  you  were  allured.  For  that 
reason  I  make  known  to  you  that  no  one 
speaking  by  Breath  of  a  God  calls  lesous 
a  temple-offering ;  ^  and  no  one  can  speak  of 
lesous  as  Master  save  by  the  Purifying^ 
Breath. 

»  Ethereal  beings,  Gods,  ♦♦spirits,"  or  disembod- 
ied souls,  phantoms,  etc. 

*  Gr.  eidola,  soulless  astral  forms,  apparitions 
evoked  by  the  thaumaturgists.  Origenes  also  applies 
the  term  eidola  to  them.  lamblichos  execrates  these 
♦'empty  phantoms"  in  his  treatise  On  the  Mysteries 
(xxviii-xxx). 

'  That  is,  a  mere  superstition  of  exoteric  worship. 

*  Gr.  hagioSy  pure,  devoted  to  the  Gods.  The 
Breath  is  the  agent  in  the  telestic  or  purificatory 
rites,  and  the  Fire  of  spiritual  inspiration. 


46  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

Now,  there  are  diversities  of  magical  pow- 
ers, but  the  same  Breath.  And  there  are 
diversities  of  services,  and  the  same  Master. 
And  there  are  diversities  of  energizings,  but 
the  same  God,  he  who  energizes  all  [things] 
in  all.  Now,  to  each  one  is  given  the  shin- 
ing-forth  of  the  Breath  for  the  general 
good.  For  to  one  is  given  through  the 
Breath  a  saying^  of  [arcane]  Knowledge,'' 
and  to  another  a  saying  of  Secret  Lore,^ 
according  to  the  same  Breath,  and  to  an- 
other intuition  in  the  same  Breath  ;  and  to 
another,  magical  powers  of  healing,  in  the 
same  Breath;  and  to  another,  energizings 
of  Forces;  and  to  another,  Seership ;  *  and 
to  another,  discernings  of  Breath-beings; 

^  Gr.  logos,  a  discourse ;  reason ;  a  maxim  contain- 
ing an  inner  or  esoteric  meaning.    (See  note  4,  p.  31.) 

*  Gr.  sophia,  learning ;  philosophical  teaching ;  eso- 
teric knowledge. 

^  Gr.  gndsis,  wisdom ;  the  sacred  science  of  the 
Initiates. 

*  Gr.  propMteia,  the  faculty  of  a  Seer  (prophetes); 
speaking  from  direct  cognition.  A  prophetes  is  one 
who  "speaks  for  another,"  for  a  God,  or  under 
divine  inspiration;  hence,  a  Seer — not  merely  one 
who  foretells  future  events. 


THE  TRUE  PATH  OF  POWER.       47 

and  to  another,  various  mystery-jargons;  *  and 
to  another,  the  interpretation  of  mystery- 
jargons. '^  Now,  one  and  the  same  Breath 
energizes  all  these,  distributing  to  each  one 
respectively  even  as  he  determines.  For 
just  as  the  body  is  one,  and  has  many  mem- 
bers, so  also  is  the  Anointed.  For  in  one 
Breath  we  were  all  lustrated  into  one  body, 
whether  loudaians  or  Hellenes,  whether 
slaves  or  freemen,  and  were  all  saturated  in 
one  Breath.  .  .  .  Desire  ardently  the 
better- magical  powers  —  and  yet  I  point  out 
to  you  a  more  excellent  Path. 

Though  I  speak  in  the  mystery -jargons  of 
the  Men  and  of  the  Messengers,  but  have 
not  Love,  I  am  become  [but]  sounding  brass 
or  a  cymbal  clanging.      And  though  I  have 

*  Gr.  glossa,  the  tongue ;  word  of  mouth,  lan- 
guage. Here  used  for  magical  formulas  for  arous- 
ing forces,  and  for  oracular  utterances  spoken  in  the 
mantic  frenzy  or  state  of  inspiration.  The  verb  used 
for  "speaking"  {lalein,  to  babble,  chatter,  prattle) 
is  a  peculiar  one,  and  is  generally  applied  in  the 
New  Testament  to  speakmg  under  inspiration,  and 
to  disclosing  secrets. 

'It  is  noticeable  that  mne  powers  are  here  enu- 
merated. 


48  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

Seership,  and  know  the  Mysteries  all,  and 
all  the  Secret  Lore;  and  though  I  have  all 
Wisdom,  *  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains, 
but  have  not  Love,  I  am  nothing.  And 
though  I  give  away  all  my  possessions,  and 
allow  my  body  to  become  parched  up,'  but 
have  not  Love,  it  profits  me  nothing. 

Love  is  patient,  is  kind;  Love  does  not 
envy,  does  not  vaunt  itself,  is  not  inflated, 
does  not  appear  fantastic,  seeks  not  the 
things  of  self,  is  not  irritated,  does  not  im- 
pute evil ;  rejoices  not  in  injustice,  but  takes 
glad  share  in    The    Truth;^   shelters  all 

*  Gr.  pistiSy  confidence,  trust ;  inner  certainty ;  in- 
tuition, insight.  It  is  the  illuminating  power  of  the 
Parakletos,  ranging  from  mere  psychic  intuition  to 
full  spiritual  illumination,  in  which  sense  Paulos  here 
uses  it.  Technically,  pistis  is  the  power  to  penetrate 
into  the  inner  planes  of  being,  gnosis  is  the  interior 
knowledge,  and  sophia  is  the  knowledge  retained  on 
returning  to  the  outer  plane  of  consciousness. 

^Alluding  to  the  mistaken  monkish  notion  that 
spiritual  knowledge  can  be  gained  by  the  mere  re- 
nunciation of  worldly  affairs  and  the  practice  of 
asceticism. 

^  Gr.  alitheia,  the  One  Reality ;  true  Being  as 
opposed  to  the  transitory  illusions  of  phenomenal  ex- 
istence; the  Secret  Doctrine  of  the  Mysteries. 


THE  TRUE  PATH  OF  POWER.        49 

things,  has  intuition  into  all  things,  hopes 
for  all  things,  bears  patiently  with  all  things. 
Love  perishes  never — whether  Seer-vis- 
ions shall  be  done  away  with,  or  mystery-jar- 
gons be  made  an  end  of,  or  the  Secret  Lore 
be  done  away  with.  For  our  Secret  Lore  is 
from  a  fragment,  and  our  Seership  is  from  a 
fragment;'  but  when  the  Perfecting-pe- 
riod  shall  have  come,  that  which  is  from  a 
fragment  shall  be  done  away  with.  When  I 
was  a  child'  I  talked  as  a  child,  thought  as 
a  child,  reasoned  as  a  child ;  but  since  I  have 
become  a  man  I  have  put  away  the  [things] 
of  a  child.  For  now  we  see  as  by  means  of 
puzzling  images  in  a  mirror;  but  then^  face 
towards  face.  Now  I  know  only  from  a  frag- 
ment; but  then  I  shall  have  full  conscious- 
ness even  as  I  have  had  full  consciousness. 
And  now  abide  Wisdom,  Hope,  Love,^  these 

*  Or,  ' '  we  know  [only]  from  a  fragment,  and  we 
have  Seership  [only]  from  a  fragment." 

*  Literally,   ••  an  infant,"   ''a  baby." 

*  Gr.  pistis,  faith  (see  note  i,  p.  48);  elpis^  hope, 
hoping,  the  object  hoped  for;  agape^  lovingness, 
affection,  love.  The  word  agape  is  purely  Biblical 
and  ecclesiastical,  and  was  evidently  coined  as  a 
substitute  for  the  pagan  Eros  (love).     In  the  older 


50  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

Three;  but  the  greatest  of  these  [is]  Love. 
Be  followers  of  Love,  and  strive  after  the 
things  of  the  Breath;  but  more  that  you 
should  speak  as  Seers.  For  he  who  speaks  in 
a  mystery -jargon  speaks  not  to  Men,  but  to 
The  God:  no  one  hears,  but  by  a  Breath 
he  speaks  Mysteries.*  But  he  who  speaks 
as  a  Seer  speaks  to  M  e  n  for  an  upbuilding, 
and  an  evocation,  and  an  exhortation.  He 
who  speaks  in  a  mystery- jargon  upbuilds 
himself,  but  he  who  speaks  as  a  Seer  up- 
builds a  Society.  Now,  I  desire  that  you  all 
should  speak  in  mystery- jargons,  but  more 
that  you  should  speak  as  Seers;  for  he  who 
speaks  as   a   Seer  is  greater  than  he  who 

Greek  mythology  Eros  was  the  highest  of  the  Gods, 
and  is  the  same  as  the  Logos;  thus,  "Eros,  the 
most  ancient,  generated  all  things"  (Argonautics). 
Hesiodos  also  assigns  the  first  and  highest  place  to 
Eros,  *'the  most  beautiful  among  immortal  Gods" 
{Theogony,  120).  Faith  and  Hope  were  also  prom- 
inent in  the  old  mythology:  "Hope  alone  remains,  a 
kind  Goddess  among  mortals,  the  rest  have  aban- 
doned us  and  gone  to  Olympos;  gone  is  Faith,  a 
mighty  Goddess"  {TheogniSy  1131-1133). 

*  The  arcane  teachings  or  doctrines,  which  are  to 
be  expressed  only  in  a  secret  language. 


THE    TRUE    PATH    OF    POWER.  5 1 

Speaks  in  mystery-jargons,  unless  he  inter- 
prets, so  that  the  Society  may  receive  an 
upbuilding.  And  just  now,  brothers,  if  I 
come  to  you  speaking  in  mystery- jargons,  of 
what  assistance  would  I  be  to  you,  unless  I 
shall  speak  to  you  either  in  an  Unveiling,  or 
in  a  Secret  Lore,  or  in  a  Vision-seeing,  or 
in  a  Teaching.'  ...  I  shall  invoke  in 
the  Breath,  and  I  shall  invoke  also  in  the 
Soul;''  I  shall  hymn  in  the  Breath,  and  I 
shall  hymn  also  in  the  Soul.  For  if  you 
bless'  -in  the  Breath,  how  will  he  who  occu- 

*  Here  are  given,  in  inverted  order,  the  four  de- 
grees of  initiation,  the  lowest  being  that  in  which 
oral  teaching  was  imparted  to  the  "veiled  ones" 
(mustai),  and  the  highest  being  that  of  the  "Divine 
Presence"  ( parousia ),  the  "Unveiling"  (apoka- 
lupsis)  of  the  Inner  Self  of  the  Seer.  Paulos  here 
speaks  of  himself  as  an  hierephant.  The  four  degrees 
correspond  to  the  three  worlds  and  the  Pleroma. 

•  Gr.  nous  fnoosj,  pure  reason ;  the  interior  mind ; 
the  rational  Soul  or  Inner  Man.  Unless  a  man 
speaks  from  direct  knowledge  of  spiritual  things,  his 
words  have  no  force  and  do  not  appeal  to  the  inner 
nature  of  his  hearers. 

■  The  word  here  used  is  a  purely  technical  one, 
meaning  to  employ  sound  in  arousing  the  forces  of 
the  Breath. 


52  THE   SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

pies  the  station  of  the  common  person  *  say 
the  **  Amen"  at  your  giving  of  thanks,*  see- 
ing that  he  does  not  know  what  you.  are 
saying?  For  you^  indeed,  give  thanks  beau- 
tifully, but  the  other  [man]  is  not  upbuilt! 
I  give  thanks  to  The  God  that  I  speak 
mystery- jargons  more  than  you  all;  yet  in 
the  Society  I  would  rather  speak  five  say- 
ings through  my  own  soul,  that  I  may  teach 
others  also  by  word  of  mouth,  than  count- 
less sayings  in  a  mystery- jargon. 

*  Gr.  ididteSy  a  private  person,  one  of  the  common 
people;  ill-informed,  unpracticed,  illiterate.  Here, 
one  of  the  profane  or  uninitiated. 

^  At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremony  admitting  the 
"common  person"  into  the  Society. 


A   LETTER  OF   lAKOBOS.' 

Iakobos,  a  slave  of  God  and  Master 
Anointed  lesous,  sends  good- will  to  the 
twelve  tribes  that  are  among  those  scattered 
abroad. 

My  brothers,  esteem  it  nothing  but  a  fa- 
vor when  you  fall  into  various  trials,  being 
aware  that  the  proving  of  your  faith  works 
out  patient-waiting."  Now,  let  the  patient- 
waiting  have  a  perfect  work,  so  that  you 
may  be  perfect  and  all-round,  lacking  in 
nothing.  Now,  if  any  one  of  you  is  lack- 
ing in  knowledge,'  let  him  ask  of  The  God 

*  Commonly  called  The  General  Epistle  of  James  y 
and  supposed  to  have  been  written  either  by  "James 
the  Just"  or  by  "James  the  Less." 

^  Gr.  huponioniy  remaining  behind ;  steadfast  wait- 
ing. Technically,  the  patient  waiting  for  the  Per- 
fecting-period  (telos)  or  Initiation,  when  through 
the  action  of  the  Advocate  (parakletos)  the  puri- 
fied psychic  becomes  one  of  the  spiritually  Illumined 
(pneutnatikoi). 

'  Gr.  Sophia,  learning,  philosophy ;  arcane  knowl- 
edge.    (See  note  i,  p.  4Pa) 


54  THE   SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

who  gives  to  all  openly,  and  does  not  chide, 
and  it  shall  be  given  him.  But  let  him  ask 
trustingly,  not  at  all  irresolute;  for  he  who 
is  irresolute  is  like  the  surge  of  the  sea, 
storm-driven  and  tossed  to  and  fro.  Cer- 
tainly let  not  that  man  think  that  he  will  get 
anything  from  the  Master — a  bi-psychic* 
man  unsettled  in  all  his  ways. 

But  let  the  lowly  ^  brother  vaunt  himself  in 
his  loftiness,  and  the  rich  in  his  lowliness ;  be- 
cause as  a  flower  of  grass  he  shall  pass  away. 
For  the  sun  rose  with  burning  heat,  and 
withered  the  grass,  and  its  flower  fell  off,  and 
the  beauty  of  its  appearance  was  ruined.  So 
also  will  the  rich  [  man  ]  decay  in  his  goings. 

Immortal '  [is]  the  man  who  remains  firm 

*  Gr.  dip  sue  ho  s.  The  psychic  nature  of  man,  be- 
ing intermediate  between  the  spiritual  and  the  phys- 
ical, partakes  of  both;  until  it  is  purified  from  the 
material  element  the  unwavering  concentration  of 
mind  required  for  spiritual  insight  is  impossible,  for 
through  the  conflict  of  spiritual  aspirations  and  ma- 
terial desires  a  man  is  kept  at  variance  with  himself. 

"^  Gr.  tapeinoSy  of  low  rank,  poor,  humble. 

^  Gr.  makarios  (makar),  an  epithet  of  the  Gods 
(makares  theoi)  descriptive  of  their  state  of  death- 
lessness  and  everlasting  bliss ;  the  highest  happiness. 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  55 

under  trial;  because,  having  become  ac- 
cepted, he  will  get  the  crown  of  the  Life 
which  the  Master  promised  to  those  who  love 
him.  Let  no  one  who  is  being  tried  say, 
*'l  am  tried  by  The  God";  for  The  God 
is  untried  in  evil  [things] ,  and  /le  tries  no 
one ;  but  each  one  is  tried  by  his  own  Desire, 
being  lured  forth  and  enticed.  Then  De- 
sire, '  having  conceived,  brings  forth  Sin ;  and 
Sin,'  being  fully  perfected,  gives  birth  to 
Death.  My  beloved  brothers,  be  not  led 
into  wandering  ways.  Every  good  bequest 
and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  com- 
ing down  from  the  Father  of  the  Lights, 
with  whom  there  can  be  no  alternation,  or 

*  Gr.  epithumia,  eager  longing,  lust;  the  "vital 
impulse  which  leads  from  one  sensation  to  another," 
the  principle  of  desire  which  leads  the  soul  to  rein- 
carnate—  here  personified  as  a  wanton  woman  who 
allures  and  entices. 

^Gr.  hamartia,  literally,  "missing  the  mark"; 
failure;  a  bad  action,  a  violation  of  divine  law.  In 
New  Testament  terminology  it  refers  especially  to 
the  fall  into  generation  ;  and  generation,  or  "sin," 
brings  the  soul  into  the  material  world,  which  is 
mystically  termed  "Death,"  its  dwellers,  "the  mor- 
tals," being  regarded  as  "the  dead"  (hoi  nekroi) 
who  have  to  be  revivified  spiritually. 


56  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

shadow  of  turning.*  Having  willed^  he  gave 
birth  to  us  by  a  Mind^  of  Truth,'  for  us 
to  be  a  kind  of  firstlings*  of  his  embodied 
beings.  And  so,  my  beloved  brothers,  let 
every  man  be  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak, 
slow  to  wrath;  for  man's  wrath  does  not 
work  out  The  God's  right-conduct.  There- 
fore, laying  aside  all  filth  and  residue  of 
vice,  *  with  mildness  accept  graciously  the  in- 

*Tlie  figure  of  speech  refers  to  the  alternating 
seasons  and  the  shadow  on  the  sun-dial,  thus  con- 
trasting the  Timeless  Father  of  the  Lights  with 
manifested  Time  as  measured  by  the  luminous  bodies 
in  space. 

*  Gr.  logos,  the  external  expression  of  the  interior 
thought,  the  formative  power  of  the  mind;  a  word 
or  saying  as  expressing  a  thought. 

3  Gr.  alHheia,  the  Real,  as  opposed  to  the  appa- 
rent or  illusory ;  the  changeless  spiritual  basis  of  life, 
which  forever  is ;  while  manifested  life  is  forever 
becoming. 

*  Gr.  aparcM,  the  preliminary  rite  i^^  sacrificing; 
the  firstlings  offered  in  a  sacrifice.  Here  the  mean- 
ing apparently  is  that  the  first  Men  (the  Mind-born 
Sons,  the  "Builders")  were  the  archetypes  of  all 
beings  in  the  inferior  worlds. 

^The  evil  impulses  that  continue  automatically, 
in  the  lower  nature,  even  after  the  mind  is  fixed  upon 
virtue,  and  every  effort  is  toward  right-conduct. 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  57 

bom  Mind,  which  is  able  to  save  your  psy- 
chic natures.  But  become  doers  of  Mind/ 
and  not  hearers  only,  not  deluding  yourselves 
with  false  reasonings.  For  if  any  one  is  a 
hearer  of  Mind,  and  not  a  doer,  this  one  is 
like  a  man  observing  the  face  of  his  birth 
in  a  mirror.  For  he  observed  himself,  and 
went  away,  and  immediately  forgot  of  what 
sort  he  was.  But  he  who  peers  into  the 
perfect  Law,  that  of  freedom,  and  stands 
fast,  becoming,  not  a  forgetful  hearer,  but 
a  doer  of  work,  this  [man]  shall  be  immor- 
tal in  his  doing. 

If  any  one  seems  to  be  religious,  who 
does  not  bridle  his  tongue,  but  deceives  his 
heart,  this  [man's]  religion  is  foolish.  Clean 
and  undefiled  religion,  with  The  God  and 
Father,  is  this:  to  look  after  orphans  and 
widows  in  their  distress,  [and]  to  keep  him- 
self unspotted  from  the  world. 

My  brothers,  do  you,  in  paying  regard  to 
outward  appearances,  keep  the  faith  of  our 
Master,  Anointed  lesous,  [Master]  of  the 
Radiance?      For  if  there  enter  into  your 

'  That  is,  following  the  inner  promptings  of  the 
Soul,  or  Logos. 


58  THE   SERMON    ON    THE   MOUNT. 

assembly  a  man  with  gold  rings  on  his  fin- 
gers, in  splendid  clothes,  and  there  enter 
in  also  a  beggar*  in  dirty  clcrthes,  and  you 
look  up  to  the  one  wearing  the  splendid 
clothes,  and  say,  **Sit  thou  here  in  a  place  of 
honor;"  and  to  the  beggar  you  say,  *^ Stand 
thou^  or  sit  near  my  footstool,"  do  you  not 
make  distinctions  among  yourselves,  and  be- 
come judges  with  sorry  notions?  Consider, 
my  beloved  brothers;  did  not  The  God 
choose  the  beggars  of  the  world,  rich  in  faith 
and  heirs  of  the  Realm  which  he  promised 
to  those  who  love  him  ?  But  you  dishonored 
the  beggar.  Do  not  the  rich  domineer  over 
you,  and  do  not  they  drag  you  into  courts 
of  justice?  Do  they  not  defame  the  noble 
Name  which  has  been  nicknamed  upon 
you?''  If,  however,  you  carry  out  perfectly 
a  royal  Law,  according  to  the  Writing," 

^  Gr.  ptochos,  one  who  begs  from  door  to  door;  a 
mendicant. 

^The  term  *' Christians"  seems  to  have  been  at 
first  a  derisive  one  and  a  misnomer ;  for  while  lesous 
was  the  Anointed  (christos),  or  King-Messias  of 
the  cycle,  his  followers  could  hardly  claim  that  title. 

^  Gr.  graphe,  anything  drawn,  painted  or  written; 
a  letter;  a  passage  from  the  sacred  books. 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  59 

**Love  your  neighbor  as  yourself,"  you  do 
nobly.  But  if  you  pay  regard  to  outward  ap- 
pearances, you  commit  sin,  being  convicted 
under  the  Law  as  offenders.  For  whoso- 
ever shall  keep  the  whole  Law,  but  shall 
make  one  false  step,  has  become  liable  for 
all.  For  the  one  who  said,  *  ^  Do  not  commit 
adultery,"  said  also,  **Do  not  commit  mur- 
der." Now,  if  you  do  not  commit  adultery, 
but  do  commit  murder,  you  have  become 
an  offender  against  Law.  So  speak,  and  so 
act,  as  those  about  to  be  judged  by  a  Law 
of  freedom.  For  judgment  [is]  pitiless  to 
him  who  has  not  shown  compassion.  Com- 
passion vaunts  itself  over  judgment. 

What  use  [is  it] ,  my  brothers,  in  case  any 
one  says  he  has  faith,  but  does  not  have 
works — can  his  faith  save  him?  Now,  in 
case  a  brother  or  a  sister  should  be  thinly 
clad,  and  in  want  of  daily  food,  and  one  of 
you  should  say  to  them,  **Go  your  way  in 
peace,  be  warmed  and  fed,"  but  you  do  not 
give  them  the  things  necessary  for  the  body, 
what  use  [is  it]?  Thus  also  faith,  unless  it 
has  works,  is  in  itself  dead.  But  some  one 
will  say,  ^'Vou  have  faith,  and  /  have  works; 


6o  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

show  me  your  faith  separate  from  works, 
and  /  will  show  you  my  faith  by  works." 
You  believe  that  The  God  is  One;  you  do 
nobly — the  Genii*  believe  [it]  too,  and  shud- 
der! Now,  do  you  wish  to  know,  O  friv- 
olous man,  that  faith  separate  from  works  is 
dead?  Was  not  Abraham,  our  Father,  vindi- 
cated by  works,  having  brought  his  son  Isaac 
to  the  place  of  sacrifice?''  Do  you  see  that 
faith  participated  in  his  works,  and  that  faith 
was  made  perfect  by  works?  And  the  Writ- 
ing was  fulfilled  which  says,  **Now,  Abra- 
ham believed  The  God,  and  it  was  passed 
to  his  account  as  right-conduct";^  and  he 
was  nicknamed  ''God's  friend."*  Do  you 
see  that  a  man  is  vindicated  by  works,  and 

^  Gr.  daimon,  god,  goddess ;  tutelary  spirit.  Prop- 
erly, the  daimones  were  the  deified  souls  of  the  great 
heroes  who  are  intermediate  between  ordinary  men 
and  the  perfected  men  or  Gods  ;  but  in  later  Greek 
the  term  is  applied  to  the  spirits  of  the  dead  gener- 
ally, and  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  used  in  a  bad 
sense  to  designate  ghosts,  spooks  and  mischievous 
sprites. 

"  Gen.  xxii.  1-18. 

*  The  words  quoted  are  not  in  the  Old  Testament. 

*  II.   Chron.  xx.   7 ;  Isa.  xli.  8. 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  6l 

not  by  faith  alone?  And  in  the  same  way  was 
not  also  Rahab,  the  strumpet,  vindicated  by 
works,  having  entertained  the  messengers,* 
and  sent  them  out  by  another  road?*  For  as 
the  body  separate  from  [the]  Breath  is  dead, 
so  also  faith  separate  from  works  is  dead. 

Let  not  many  [of  you]  become  Teachers, 
my  brothers,  knowing  that  we  shall  meet 
with  a  more  severe  judgment.  For  in  many 
things  we  all  trip  up.  If  any  one  does  not 
trip  up  in  conversation,  he  is  a  perfect  man, 
able  to  guide  as  with  a  bridle  the  whole  body 
also.  See,  we  put  the  horses*  bridle-bits 
into  their  mouths  in   order  that  they  may 

*Gr.  angelosy  courier,  messenger,  envoy;  guar- 
dian genius ;  elemental  spirit.  In  the  above  passage 
the  word  is  used  in  its  primitive  meaning,  being 
applied  to  the  two  spies  sent  out  by  "Joshua  the  son 
of  Nun  " ;  but  usually  in  the  New  Testament  it  has  a 
technical  sense.  In  the  Apocalypse  particular  angeloi 
(angels)  have  charge  of  separate  elements,  as  fire 
(xiv.  i8),  water  (xvi.  5),  the  four  winds  of  the  four 
Quarters  (vii.  i);  and  lesous  is  shown  in  the  guise 
of  an  angel  (xxii.  8-16).  The  word  angelos  is  used 
by  the  New  Testament  writers  in  the  good  sense  of 
the  word  daimon^  and  they  apply  the  latter  only  to 
the  lower  orders  of  spirits. 

^Josh.  iL  1-23;  vi.  17. 


62  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

be  brought  to  obey  us,  and  we  direct  their 
whole  body.  See,  also,  the  ships,  though  of 
so  great  size,  and  driven  by  violent  winds, 
yet  they  are  directed  by  a  very  small  rudder 
wherever  the  impulse  of  the  helmsman  wills. 
Thus,  also,  the  tongue  is  a  small  member, 
and  it  talks  big!  See,  how  great  a  mass  of 
stuff '  a  little  fire  sets  aflame ;  and  the  tongue 
[is]  a  fire:  the  tongue  is  ordinarily,  among 
our  members,  the  sum-total*  of  injustice, 
that  which  vitiates  the  whole  body,  and  in- 
flames the  wheel  of  birth,'  and  is  [itself] 
inflamed  by  the  Burning  Valley/    For  every 

*  Gr.  huli,  forest,  underbrush ;  firewood ;  unwrought 
material;  the  chaotic  elements  in  space  from  which 
the  material  universe  (kosmos)  was  formed.  There 
is  a  play  upon  the  meaning  of  the  word,  in  the  above 
passage  (which  is  profoundly  occult),  referring  to  the 
power  of  sound  to  arouse  the  latent  evil  forces  in  the 
psychic  nature. 

^Gr.  kosmos^  the  (material)  world,  shaped  out  of 
the  huli  by  the  formative  power  of  the  Logos ;  the  all. 

^  Or,  *' generation";  descent  into  the  material 
world.  The  soul  is  considered  as  being  bound  to 
the  "wheel  of  birth"  because  of  its  repeated  incar- 
nations. 

*Gr.  gehenna  (see  note  7,  p.  15).  From  the  evil 
Fire  of  Had§s  (the  psychic  world)  come  the  vile 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  63 

creature,  both  of  wild  animals  and  birds, 
both  of  reptiles  and  of  sea-animals,  is  sub- 
dued and  has  been  subdued  by  the  human 
creature ;  but  of  human  beings  not  one  is  able 
to  subdue  the  tongue  ;  [it  is]  an  irrepres- 
sible mischief,  full  of  death- dealing  poison. 
With  it  we  bless  The  God  and  Father,  and 
with  it  we  call  down  curses  on  men,  who 
have  come  into  being  according  to  a  God*s 
likeness:  out  of  the  same  mouth  go  forth  a 
blessing  and  a  curse.  My  brothers,  these 
things  should  not  come  about  in  this  way. 
Does  the  spring  cause  to  bubble  over,  from 
the  same  opening,  sweet  [water]  and  bitter? 
My  brothers,  can  a  fig-tree  produce  olives, 
or  a  vine  figs?  Neither  [can]  salt  water  pro- 
duce sweet. 

[Is  there]  any  learned  and  able  man  among 
you?  Let  him  show  by  noble  conduct  his 
works  by  tranquillity  of  knowledge.  But  if 
you  have  bitter  rivalry  and  intriguing  in 
your  hearts,  do  not  vaunt  yourselves  and 
speak  falsely  concerning  the  Truth?     This 

influences  that  inflame  the  passions  of  men,  causing 
wrong  speech  and  evil  actions,  which  keep  the  soul 
within  the  cycle  of  reincarnations. 


64  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

knowledge^  is  not  [the  knowledge]  which 
comes  down  from  above,  but  [it  is]  earthy, 
psychic,  mediumistic.^  For  where  rivalry  and 
intriguing  are,  there  is  anarchy  and  every 
mean  act.  But  the  knowledge  from  above 
is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  equitable,  defer- 
ential, full  of  compassion  and  of  good  fruits, 
resolute,  without  hypocrisy.  Now  the  fruit 
of  right-conduct  is  sown  by  Peace  for  those 
making  peace. 

From  what  source  [are]  quarrels  and 
wranglings  among  you?  [Are  they]  not  in 
consequence  of  your  voluptuous  cravings 
making  war  among  your  members?  You 
desire,  and  do  not  have;  you  commit  mur- 
der,^ and  are  envious,  and  you  cannot  attain 
[your  ends];  you  wrangle  and  quarrel.  You 
do  not  have,  because  of  your  not  asking; 
you  ask,  and  you  do  not  get,  because  you 
ask  wrongly,  that  you  may  squander  [it]  in 
your  voluptuous  cravings.      Adulterers  and 

*  Referring  to  false  pretenses  to  occult  knowledge. 

^Literally,  "ghost-like"  {daimoniddis^  a  coined 
word);  the  writer  is  speaking  of  pseudo-occultism 
of  the  seance-room  sort. 

'That  is,  "you  entertain  murderous  thoughts." 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  65 

adulteresses,  do  you  not  know  that  the 
friendship  of  the  world  is  enemity  to  The 
God?  Therefore,  whoever  wills  to  be  a 
friend  of  the  world  renders  himself  an 
enemy  of  The  God.  Or  do  you  fancy  that 
it  is  in  a  literal  sense*  the  Writing  says, 
**Even  to  enviousness  yearns  the  Breath 
which  dwells  in  us."^  But  it  gives  a  very 
great  favor;  therefore  [the  Writing]  says, 
**The  God  opposes  the  arrogant,  but  gives 
favor  to  the  lowly."'  Therefore,  obey  The 
God.  Oppose  the  Adversary,  and  he 
will  flee  from  you.  Come  near  to  The 
God,  and  he  will  come  near  to  you.  Cleanse 
your  hands,  sinful  [men],  and  purify  your 
hearts,  bi- psychic  [men].  Endure  hard 
labor,    and    mourn    and    lament;    let    your 

*  Gr.  kenos,  emptily,  inanely ;  superficially,  in  ap- 
pearance only. 

'  This  quotation,  like  a  number  of  others  in  the 
New  Testament,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament books.  The  theologians — failing  to  see  that 
it  is  a  poetical  hyperbole,  which  Iak6bos  quotes  iron- 
ically— have  argued  much  over  its  meaning.  The 
revised  version  gives  three  distinct  translations  of 
it,  each  of  which  misses  the  point  of  the  joke. 

•  Prov.  iii,  34. 


66  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

laughter  be  changed  into  mourning,  and 
your  gladness  into  shame.  Become  lowly 
in  front  of  the  Master,  and  he  will  lift 
you  up. 

Brothers  do  not  tattle  ^  about  one  another. 
He  who  tattles  about  a  brother,  or  judges  his 
brother,  tattles  about  the  Law,  and  judges 
the  Law.  Now,  if  you  judge  the  Law, 
you  are  not  a  doer  of  the  Law,  but  a  judge. 
One  there  is  who  is  Lawgiver  and  Judge — 
he  who  is  able  to  save  and  to  destroy.  But 
who  are  you  who  judge  your  fellow? 

Come  now!  you  who  say,  *^ To-day  and  to- 
morrow we  will  go  into  this  or  that  city,  and 
spend  a  year  there,  and  carry  on  business, 
and  gain  profit" — you  who  have  no  certain 
knowledge  about  the  morrow.  For  what  is 
your  life?  Why,  'tis  a  vapor,  for  a  little 
while  appearing,  and  then  disappearing. 
Instead,  you  should  say,''  ''If  the  Master 
wills,  we  shall  not  only  be  alive  but  also  we 
shall  do  this   or  that."      But  now  you   are 

*  Gr.  katalalem,  to  babble,  blab  ;  to  talk  down, 
slander. 

^  Or,  "instead  of  your  saying  [as  you  should],"  the 
two  preceding  sentences  being  parenthetical. 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  67 

over-confident  in  your  empty  boasting.  All 
such  over-confidence  is  useless.  Now,  when 
one  knows  [what  is]  right,  and  does  not  do 
[it],  to  him  it  is  sin. 

Come  now!  you  rich  [men];  lament  and 
wail  loudly  for  your  hardships  which  are 
at  hand.  Your  riches*  have  rotted,  and 
your  garments  have  become  moth-eaten. 
Your  gold  and  your  silver  have  grown  rusty, 
and  their  rust  shall  be  for  a  witness  against 
you,  and  shall  devour  your  bodies  "*  like  fire. 
You  have  hoarded  treasures  on  the  last 
days.  See,  the  pay  of  the  workmen  who 
mowed  your  fields,  which  is  withheld'  by 
you,  is  crying  out,  and  the  supplicating  cries 
of  the  reapers  have  come  to  the  ears  of  the 
Master  of  Hosts.  You  have  lived  luxuri- 
ously on  the  earth,  and  have  been  sensual; 
you  have  nourished  your  hearts  on  a  day  of 

*  That  is,  stores  of  grain,  which,  with  webs  of  fine 
cloth,  and  gold  and  silver  ingots  and  coin,  consti- 
tuted their  hoarded  wealth. 

"Literally,  "fleshes,"  the  term  "flesh"  ^^^r^r^  be- 
ing a  common  one  in  the  New  Testament  for  the 
physical  body. 

•Or,  ''left  unpaid,"  implying  injustice  and  fraud. 


68  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

slaughter/  You  have  condemned,  you  have 
murdered  the  just  [man];^  he  does  not  re- 
sist you. 

Be  far-purposed,  then,  brothers,  until  the 
presence'  of  the  Master.  See,  the  tiller  of 
the  soil  waits  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the 
earth,  being  far-purposed  over  it  until  he 
gets  the  early  and  the  late  fruitage.*  Do 
you  be  far-purposed  also  ;  render  constant 
your  hearts,  because  the  presence  of  the 
Master  is  near.  Brothers,  do  not  utter  com- 
plaints against  one  another,  that  you  may 
not  be  judged.  See,  the  Judge  is  standing 
before  the  doors!  My  brothers,  take  as  an 
example  of  suffering*  and   far-purpose   the 

^  Jer,  xii.  3.  The  sensualist  is  represented  as 
pampering  his  lower  nature  and  having  no  more 
forethought  than  has  a  stall-fed  animal. 

^Evidently  a  generic  term,  as  "just  men  in  gen- 
eral"—  the  oppressed  poor. 

^  Gr.  parousia.     (See  note  2,  p.  38.) 

*Some  manuscripts  read,  "until  it  receives  the 
vernal  and  the  autumnal  rains" — which  does  not 
make  good  sense.  The  reading  "harvest"  or  "fruit- 
age" is  preferable. 

** Literally,  "suffering  ill,"  "distressed";  but  here 
more  probably  for  "patient  endurance  of  suffering." 


A    LETTER    OF    lAKOBOS.  69 

Seers  who  spoke  in  the  Name  of  the  Mas- 
ter. See,  we  immortalize  the  patient-waiting 
ones;  you  have  heard  of  Job's  patient- wait- 
ing, and  you  saw  the  Master's  Perfecting- 
period,  *  because  very  deeply  pitying  is  the 
Master,  and  merciful. 

Now,  above  all  things,  my  brothers,  do 
not  confirm  by  an  oath,  neither  by  the  Sky, 
nor  by  the  Earth,  nor  by  any  other  oath; 
but  let  yours  be  the  **Yes,  yes,"  and  the 
*^No,  no";  so  that  you  may  not  fall  under 
judgment. 

Is  any  one  among  you  suffering?  Let 
him  offer  prayers.  Is  any  one  happy?  Let 
him  break  into  song.  Is  any  one  among 
you  sick?  Let  him  call  to  his  aid  the  older 
[members]  of  the  Society,  and  let  them  offer 
prayers  over  him,  having  oiled  him  with 
treeroil''  in  the  Name  of  the  Master;  and 
the  entreaty  of  faith  will  save  the  worn-out 

*  Gr.  telos,  the  consummating  period,  the  end ;  in- 
itiation in  the  Mysteries.  The  story  of  Job  is  an 
allegory  of  the  trials  of  a  neophyte  (Gr.  neophutos, 
*•  newly  planted")  or  candidate  for  initiation. 

'  Olive  oil,  palm  oil,  etc. ,  used  after  bathing,  and 
in  magnetic  (mesmeric)  operations. 


yO  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

[man],  and  the  Master  will  raise  him  up; 
and  if  he  has  committed  sins,  it  will  be 
forgiven  him.  Confess  to  one  another  your 
sins,  and  offer  prayers  over  one  another,  so 
that  you  may  be  healed.  The  beseeching 
of  a  just  [man]  has  much  power  when  it 
energizes.*  Helias^was  a  man  having  the 
same  feelings  as  ourselves,  and  he,  in  a 
prayer,  prayed  for  it  not  to  rain;  and  it  did 
not  rain  on  the  earth  for  three  years  and 
six  months.  And  he  prayed  again,  and  the 
sky  gave  rain,  and  the  earth  brought  forth 
her  fruit.' 

My  brothers,  if  any  one  among  you  wan- 
ders from  the  Truth,  and  any  one  guides 
him  back,  let  him  know  that  he  who  guides 
back  a  sinner  out  of  his  wandering  path 
will  save  a  psychic-nature*  from  death  and 
will  cover  a  multitude  of  sins. 

*  A  technical  word  for  arousing  occult  forces. 
''The  Greek  form  for  "Elijah." 

'I.  Kings  xvii.  1-7;  xviii.  41-45. 

*  Gr.  psuchi,  the  animal  soul ;  the  astral  man. 


A  LETTER  OF  lOUDAS/ 

louDAS,  a  slave  of  Anointed  lesous,  and 
brother  of  lakobos,*  to  the  probationers*  be- 
loved by  [The]  God  [and]  Father  and 
kept  by  Anointed  lesous.  May  compas- 
sion and  peace  and  love  be  fulfilled  to  you. 

Loved  ones,  making  all  haste  to  write 
to  you  concerning  the  common  salvation,  I 

*  Supposed  to  have  been  written  by  loudas  the 
brother  of  Iak6bos  *  •  the  Just " ;  he  was  also  called 
Thaddaios  or  Lebbaios.  Six  or  seven  "Judases"  are 
mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  besides  • 'Judas  the 
accuser,"  who  betrayed  his  Master.  The  latter,  in 
the  mystical  Evangel  according  to  loanniSy  repre- 
sents the  evil  (sexual)  aspect  of  the  Fire  ;  while  the 
good  loudas  is  the  pupil  whose  questioning  brings 
out  the  Master's  teaching  concerning  the  Parakl§tos. 

'  Luke  vi.  1 6. 

'Literally,  "called,"  '"invited."  The  probation- 
ers, after  being  accepted,  were  termed  "chosen"  or 
"culled  out";  and  having  been  tested,  they  were 
recognized  as  trustworthy.  Thus  in  the  Apocalypse 
(xvii.  14)  are  mentioned  the  "called  (klitoi),  and 
chosen  (eklektoi)^  and  trustworthy  (ptstotj" 


72  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

feel  it  an  urgent  duty'  that  I  should  write 
you  calling  on  you  to  contend  strenuously 
for  the  Faith  which  was  once  for  all  handed 
down  to  the  Purified  ones.  For  there 
have  slipped  in  stealthily  into  this  judgment'' 
certain  [men],  the  proscribed  of  old  times/ 
sacrilegious,  changing  T  h  e  G  o  d '  s  favor  into 
wantonness,  and  disowning  the  only  Over- 
lord* and  our  Master  Anointed  lesous. 
Now,  I  wish  to  remind  you — [though]  you 
know  this^  once  for  all — that  the  Master, 
having  saved  a  people  out  of  the  land  of 
E^pt>  next"  destroyed  those  who  did  not 

*  Literally,   "I  had  necessity." 

*  Gr.  krt'ma,  that  which  requires  discrimination,  or 
calls  for  consideration;  a  decision,  distinction;  sen- 
tence, condemnation  ;  accusation,  charge.  Here  it 
refers  to  the  separating  of  the  unworthy  probationers 
from  the  worthy  ones. 

^  That  is,  those  who  had  been  expelled  from  the 
Society  in  past  incarnations.  The  writer  uses  a  legal 
term :  the  Roman  practice  was  to  post  up  in  public  a 
list  of  the  names  of  persons  sentenced,  who  were 
therefore  called  "the  proscribed." 

*  Gr.  des^otes,  a  slave-master;  despot,  absolute 
ruler;  owner,  lord. 

^A  variant  reading  is  "all  things." 
•In  the  Greek  idiom,   "secondly." 


A    LETTER    OF    lOUDAS.  73 

put  faith  in  [him];'  and  the  Messengers 
who  did  not  keep  their  First-principle/ 
but  abandoned  their  own  dwelling,  he  has 
kept  in  perpetual  fetters,  under  nether-world 
gloom,'  till  [the]  judgment  of  a  great  day;* 
even  as  [the  inhabitants  of]  Sodom  and 
Gomorra, '  and  the  cities  near  them,  having, 
in  the  same  way  as  these  [men],  become 
utterly  lascivious  and  having  gone  away  after 
strange  flesh,  are  held  out  as  an  example, 
undergoing  a  penalty  of  On-going  Fire. 
Still,  similarly  these  [men],  also,  in  their 
dreamings*  contaminate  the  flesh,  and  disre- 
gard Masterships,  and  revile  Radiances. 
But  Michael  the  Arch-messenger,  when 
disputing    with    the    Accuser    he    argued 

*  Num,  xiv.  29-31 ;   Psa.  cvi.  25,  26. 

"^  The  purely  spiritual  or  androgynous  condition. 

■  Gr.  zophos,  thick  darkness ;  the  night  side  of  the 
world,  the  land  of  gloom,  the  nether-world.  The 
souls  that  fell  into  generation  are  in  the  bondage  of 
matter,  being  as  it  were,  imprisoned  psychically. 

*  At  the  close  of  each  "g^reat  day,"  or  cycle,  those 
souls  that  have  become  pure  are  liberated. 

^  Gen.  xix.  24,  25;   Deut.  xxix.  23. 
"  That  is,  having  empty  dreams,  as  opposed  to 
true  visions. 


74  THE   SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

about  the  body  of  Moses,  did  not  venture 
to  assail  him  with  a  reviling"-judgment,  but 
said,  ** May  the  Master  rebuke  you."  ^  Now, 
these  [men]  revile  all  things^  that  they  do 
not  understand,  and  all  things  that  they  do 
perceive  psychically — as  [do  also]  the  irra- 
tional animals'* — in  these  things  they  are 
corrupted.  Alas  for  them!  for  they  trav- 
elled the  path  of  Kain,  *  and  rushed  headlong 
in  the  wandering  way  of  Balaam  after  pay,  * 
and  were  ruined  in  the  rebellion  of  Kore.^ 

*  This  story  is  supposed  to  be  taken  from  a  book 
— now  lost  —  called  The  Ascension  (anabasis)  of 
Mdsis.  The  words  quoted  are  also  found  in  Zeck. 
iii.  2. 

2  Literally,   '*as  many  things  as." 

^  The  psychic  faculties  pertain  to  the  animal-soul, 
and  are  possessed  by  the  animals  as  well  as  by  man. 
Psychic  perception,  unless  devoted  solely  to  spiritual 
purposes,  degrades  the  inner  nature  and  brings  into 
play  the  base  passions. 

*  That  is,  "the  proscribed"  had  in  a  past  incarna- 
tion violated  the  vow  of  celibacy — Kain  being  a  type 
of  the  fall  into  physical  generation. 

^  Balaam,  the  enchanter,  was  tempted  to  do  magic 
for  a  reward  in  gold  and  silver. 

®  Num.  xvi.  1-33.  The  sin  of  Kore  was  ambition, 
and  he  promoted  a  faction. 


A    LETTER    OF    lOUDAS.  75 

These  [men]  are  blemishes*  in  your  love- 
feasts/  when  feasting  with  you,  fearlessly 
shepherding  themselves;^  rainless*  clouds, 
borne  along  by  winds;  unfruitful  autumnal 
trees,  twice  dead,^  uprooted;  wild  waves  of 
the  sea,  foaming  out  their  own  disgraces; 
wandering  stars,  for  whom  the  nether- 
world gloom  has  been  kept  throughout  the 
On-going.  Now,  to  these  [men]  also 
Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  spoke  as 
a  Seer,  saying: 

*' Behold,  [the]  Master  came  with  his 
countless  Purified  ones,  to  execute  judg- 

*  Literally,  "rocks,"  or  *' reefs";  but  probably 
*' stains"  or  "spots"  was  intended.  Apparently  the 
original  read,  "a  stain"  fspilosj,  which  the  copyist 
changed  to  the  plural,  and,  mistaking  the  word  for 
spilas  (a  rock),  -wcoie  spzlades  instead  of  spiloi. 

'  Before  or  after  the  rite  of  the  "Master's  supper" 
was  celebrated  that  of  the  "feast  of  love,"  and  on 
the  breaking  up  of  the  assembly  the  "brothers  and 
sisters"  expressed  their  good-will  by  exchanging  the 
"kiss  of  peace." 

'Having  rejected  lesous,  the  "good  Shepherd"; 
or  possibly,  "shepherding  themselves  [and  not  the 
flock]." 

*  Literally,  "waterless." 

*  That  is,  not  having  borne  fruit  for  two  seasons. 


76  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

ment  upon  all,  and  to  convict  all  the  sac- 
rilegious ones  of  their  works  of  sacrilege 
which  they  sacrilegiously  did,  and  of  all  the 
hard  words  which  sacrilegious  sinners  have 
spoken  about  him."' 

These  [men]  are  murmurers,  fault-finders, 
walking  according  to  their  own  desires — and 
their  mouth  speaks  turgid  [phrases] — prais- 
ing people  for  the  sake  of  advantage. 

But  do  you^  loved  ones,  remember  the 
words  which  were  proclaimed  by  the  dele- 
gates'^  of  our  Master  Anointed  lesous,  that 
they  said  to  you: 

*^In  [the]  last  time  there  will  be  scoffers, 
walking  according  to  their  own  sacrilegious 
desires."^ 

These  [men]  are  the  separatists,  psychics, 
not  having  [the]  Breath.     But  you^  loved 

*  The  Book  of  Enoch,  from  which  the  above  quo- 
tation is  taken,  was  lost  for  many  centuries,  but  a 
copy  of  it  was  discovered  in  Abyssinia ;  yet  although 
it  is  thus  endorsed  by  loudas,  it  has  never  been  re- 
ceived as  canonical. 

^  Gr.  apostolos,  one  sent  forth  with  orders ;  envoy, 
messenger.  The  word  is  applied  to  I^sous,  to  the 
twelve  pupils,  and  to  others. 

*  From  what  writing  this  is  quoted  is  not  known. 


A    LETTER    OF    lOUDAS.  ^^ 

ones,  rebuilding  yourselves  on  your  most 
consecrated  Faith,  offering  prayers  in  [the] 
Purifying  Breath,  keep  yourselves  in  the 
love  of  [The]  God,  expecting  the  compassion 
of  our  Master  Anointed  lesous  throughout 
On-going  Life.  And  treat  some  [of  the 
scoffers]  with  contempt'  when  they  argue 
with  you ;  but  others  save  with  fear, ""  snatch- 
ing them  out  of  the  Fire,  hating  even  the 
garment'  spotted  by  the  flesh. 

Now,  to  him  who  is  able  to  guard  you 
from  stumbling  and  by  ecstacy*  to  place 
you  blameless  in  front  of  his  Radiance, 
to  [the]  only  God,  our  Saviour  through 
Anointed  lesous,  [be]  Radiance  and 
greatness,  strength  and  liberty,*  both  now 
and  throughout  all  the  On-goings.    Amen! 

^  Some  manuscripts  read,  •  •  and  show  compassion 
to  some." 

"*  That  is,  being  careful  not  to  become  contami- 
nated by  their  evil  magnetism. 

'  Gr.  chitdn,  a  woolen  frock. 

*  Gr.  agalliasis,  exultation;  man  tic  frenzy — the 
highest  trance,  in  which  the  soul  is  for  the  time 
liberated  from  the  body. 

•Gr.  exousia,  permission  (to  do  a  thing),  license; 
jurisdiction,  authority. 


THE  SERVICE  OF  RIGHT-CONDUCT.' 
[Luke  X.  25-37.] 

And  behold,  a  certain  Lawyer''  rose  up, 
trying  him,  and  saying: 

**  Teacher,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may 
inherit   On-going   Life?" 

And  he  said  to  him: 

**What  is  written  in  the  Law?  How  do 
you  read  [it]?'* 

And  he,  answering,  said: 

**  *You  should  love  The  God,  your 
Master,  from  your  whole  heart,  and  from 
your  whole  psychic-nature,  and  from  your 

*  The  Old  Testament  {pa  I  am  diathike,  "old  com- 
pact"), or  Mosaic  Law,  which  imposed  ritualistic  ob- 
servances relating  to  psychic  forces  that  affect  the 
material  life,  was  called  by  Paulos  "the  service  of 
Death"  and  "the  service  of  over-distinction "  (kata- 
krisis):  but  the  New  Testament  ("compact"),  or 
code  of  lesous,  which  enforces  practical  ethics  based 
upon  the  great  spiritual  law  of  Compassion,  he  calls 
"the  service  of  right-conduct."     (II.  Cor.  iii.  6-9.) 

*  An  interpreter  and  teacher  of  the  Mosaic  Law. 


THE   SERVICE    OF    RIGHT-CONDUCT.  79 

whole  strength,  and  from  your  whole 
mind;*  and  [you  should  love]  your  neigh- 
bor as  yourself.'"* 

And  he  said  to  him: 

'*You  have  answered  aright.  Do  this, 
and  you  shall  have  Life." 

Now,  wishing  to  justify  himself,  he  said 
to  lesous: 

'*And  who  is  my  *  neighbor'?" 

Now,  lesous,  replying,  said: 

**A  certain  man  was  going  down  from 
Hierousalem  to  Hiericho,  and  he  fell  among 
bandits,'  who  not  only  stripped  him  but  also 
inflicted  blows  on  [him],  and  went  away, 
leaving  [him]  half- dead.  Now,  according 
to  chance,  a  certain  priest  was  going  down 
by  that  path,  and  seeing  him,  he  went  along 
on  the  opposite  side  [of  the  path].  And 
in  like  manner  also  a  Levite  *  coming  to  be 
near  the  place,   went   and  saw  [him],   and 

» Gr.  dianoia,  reasoning  faculty ;  understanding. 
^  Deut.  vi.  5;  Lev,  xix.  18. 

•  Gr.  lestis,  plunderer,  despoiler ;  pirate ;  brigand, 
robber. 

*  The  Levites  were  assistants  of  the  priests  and 
care-takers  of  the  temple. 


8o  THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

went  along  on  the  opposite  side.  Now,  a 
certain  Samareitan/  as  he  was  traveling, 
went  near  him,  and  seeing  him  he  was 
stirred  to  pity;  and  approaching,  he  bound 
up  his  wounds,  pouring  on  oil  and  wine,  and 
having  put  him  on  his  own  beast,  brought 
him  to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of  him.  And 
on  the  morrow,  taking  out  two  denarii'^  he 
gave  [them]  to  the  inn-keeper,  and  said, 
*Take  care  of  him,  and  whatever  you  may 
spend  in  addition,  / — on  my  return — will 
pay  you.'  Which  of  these  three,  think  you, 
became  a  *  neighbor'  of  the  one  who  fell 
among  the  bandits?" 

And  he  said: 

**The  one  who  showed  compassion  towards 
him." 

And  lesous  said  to  him: 

**Go  your  way,  and  do  you  show  [it]  in 
like  manner." 

*  The  people  of  Samareia,  being  a  mixed  race  and 
not  of  pure  loudaian  descent,  were  held  in  contempt 
by  the  loudaians,  who  had  "no  friendly  dealings" 
with  them.     {John  iv.  9.) 

'^  The  Roman  denarius  was  a  silver  coin  of  the  value 
of  fifteen  to  seventeen  cents,  according  to  coinage. 


CAXALOGUE    OK 

ClKO$opbicdl,  Occult 
m  metaphysical  BooRs. 


PUBLISHED   BY 


CbeosopDical  Society  Publisbing  Department, 

244  Lenox  Avenue,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Books  «©nt  postpaid  cvn  receipt  of  price, 

PUIiL  CATAIiOOUE  ON  APPLICATION. 

VOICE  OF  THE  SILENCE.   Bv  H.  P    Blavat- 

SKY.    Cloth,  50  cents  ;  leather,  75  cents. 

The  *'  Voice  of  the  Silence  "  is  derived  from  the  "  Book  of 
the  Golden  Precepts,"  one  of  the  works  put  into  the  hands  of 
mystic  students  in  the  East. 

To  the  diligent  searcher  this  book  opens  up  a  view  of  the 
future  awaiting  the  soul,  and  shows  the  successive  stages 
which  the  soul  must  pass  through  on  its  way  to  enlightenment 
and  final  perfection. 

THE  BHAGAVAD-GITA.    By  William  Q.  Judge. 

Pocket  size,  flexible  leather,  side  stamps,  gilt  edges,  75  cts. 

In  the  "  Bhagavad-Gita'*  or  ''The  Book  of  Devotion"  is 
represented  the  conversation  between  the  Personal  Self  and 
the  Divine  Consciousness  in  Man.  In  it  is  set  forth  the  Path 
of  Duty,  the  right  performance  of  Action,  and  final  Union  with 
the  Divine.  The  "  Bhagavad-Gita  "  has  been  studied  by  the 
philosophers  of  all  ages. 

OCEAN     OF    THEOSOPHY.     By     William     Q. 
Judge.    With  portrait  of  the  author.     154  pages,  paper,  35 
cents  ;  cloth,  side  stamp,  gilt  top,  50  cents. 
Written  in  an  easy  and  popular  style,  this  book  gives  a  clear 
and  systematic  exposition  of  Theosophy,  unequalled  by  any 
other  introductory  work.     In  a  small  compass  it  conveys  a 
surprising  amount  of  curious  and  valuable  information. 
It  is  well  suited  for  propaganda  work. 


2  Thcosophical  Society^  PubL  Dcpt. 

CULTURE     OF     CONCENTRATION,      OF 

Occult  Powers  and  their  Acquirement.    By  William 
Q.  Judge,    io  cents. 
A  valuable  treatise. 

LIGHT  ON  THE  PATH.    ByM.C.   Cloth,  50  cents; 

flexible  leather,  gilt  side  stamp,  round  corners,  red  edges, 

75  cents. 

This  beautiful  classic  contains  the  original  notes  of  the 
author  as  well  as  the  comments  from  "Lucifer,''  and  the 
instructive  essay  on  "  Karma  "  that  appeared  in  the  original 
edition  but  which  has  been  omitted  from  some  of  the  later 
ones. 

THE   IDYLL   OF  THE  WHITE   LOTUS,  by 

Mabel  Collins.  Cloth,  |i.oo. 

A  truly  inspiring  book,  containing  a  story  which  has  been 
told  in  all  ages  and  among  every  people.  It  is  the  tragedy  of 
the  Soul.  Attracted  by  Desire,  it  stoops  to  sin  ;  brought  to  it- 
self by  suffering,  it  turns  for  help  to  the  redeeming  Spirit  within, 
and  in  the  final  sacrifice  achieves  its  apotheosis  and  sheds  a 
blessing  on  mankind. 

LETTERS  THAT  HAVE  HELPED  ME.  By 

Jasper  Niemand.     Light  cloth,  with  side  stamp,  50  cents. 

*  *  Every  statement  in  them  is  a  statement  of  law.  They  point 
to  causes  of  which  life  is  an  effect ;  that  life  arising  from  the 
Spirit  in  Nature,  and  which  we  must  understand  as  it  is  mani- 
fested within  us  before  we  can  advance  on  the  Path."  A  book 
of  great  value  to  the  disciple. 

MAGIC,  WHITE  AND  BLACK,  by  Franz 
Hartmann,  M.  D.  Cloth,  gilt  top,  gold  side  stamp,  $2.00. 
A  very  popular  book  on  this  profoundly  interesting  subject. 
The  well-known  writer  has  treated  it  in  a  remarkably  clear 
style,  which  accounts  for  the  numerous  editions  which  have 
been  brought  out,  all  of  which  have  been  quickly  disposed  of. 

PARACELSUS,  by  Franz  Hartmann,  M.  D.    I2.00. 

An  extract  and  translation  from  his  rare  and  extensive  works 
and  from  some  unpublished  manuscripts.  This  great  Occultist 
was  one  of  the  advanced  thinkers  of  his  age,  whom  Virchow 
admitted  to  be  the  father  of  modern  medicine.    A  fine  edition. 

244  Lenox  Avenue^  New  Yorfc# 


Theosophical  Society^  PabL  Dept.  3 

REINCARNATION,  (unabridged  edition.)  By  E.   D. 

Walker.    350  pages.    Cloth,  $1.50. 

A  lucid  explanation  of  the  subject,  as  well  as  the  consci- 
entious mention  of  Western  objections,  with  numerous 
quotations  from  Western  poems  and  prose  writings  upon  the 
teaching. 

Much  interesting  and  valuable  information  is  given  regarding 
Reincarnation  among  the  Ancients,  in  the  Bible,  in  early  and 
present  day  Christianity,  etc.  Everybody  interested  in  Reli- 
gion should  possess  this  book. 

REINCARNATION  IN  THE  NEW  TESTA- 

MENT.  By  James  M.  Pryse,  paper,  35  cents ;  cloth,  60  cents. 
This  work  presents  the  doctrine  of  Reincarnation  as  it  was 
taught  by  Jesus  and  his  disciples.  In  the  light  of  this  book, 
many  of  the  '*  dark  sayings  "  throughout  the  New  Testament 
become  lucid  and  full  of  meaning  ;  one  cannot  fully  understand 
the  wonderful  significance  of  many  of  these  passages  without 
a  knowledge  of  Reincarnation  as  applied  thereto. 

THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT  and  other 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  NeW  TESTAMENT.   By  JaMES  M. 

Pryse.  86  pages,  wide  margins,  illustrated  cover,  paper, 
35  cents  ;  cloth,  60  cents. 

A  verbatim  translation  from  the  Greek,  with  notes  on  the 
Mystical  or  Arcane  Sense. 

Contains  "The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  "The  Coming  of 
the  Christos,"  "The  True  Path  of  Power,"  "A  Letter  of 
lakobas,"  '*  A  Letter  of  loudas,"  ''The  Service  of  Right  Con- 
duct." 

This  book  is  of  special  interest  to  students  of  Christian 
Mysticism  and  the  Occultism  of  the  Bible. 

BROTHERHOOD,  NATURE'S  LAW.    ByBuR- 

CHAM  Harding.  Cloth,  40  cents. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  books  on  elementary  Theosophy  ;  it 
is  written  in  a  clear,  and  comprehensive  style,  and  just  the 
book  for  the  beginner.  Every  one  can  find  in  it  the  basis  for 
right  conduct,  which  is  convincing  to  the  mind.  At  the  end  of 
each  chapter  is  a  series  of  questions,  the  answers  to  which  are 
to  be  found  in  that  chapter. 

244  Lenox  Avenue^  New  York. 


4  Thcosophical  Society,  Pobl.  Dept« 

COMMENTARY    ON    ST.    MATTHEW.    By 

Sri  Par  an  and  a.    |2.oo. 

AN  EASTERN  EXPOSITION  OF  ST.  JOHN. 

By  Sri  Parananda.    |2,oo. 

These  are  two  most  remarkable  books,  being  an  interpreta- 
tion of  two  of  the  Christian  Gospels  by  the  light  of  the  spiritual 
experience  of  those  who  are  known  in  India  as  Jivan-muktas, 
showing  that  these  Gospels,  when  rightly  understood,  are  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  the  Vedanta  philosophy 
of  India. 

The  author  is  a  Tamil  of  high  attainments  and  sound  culture 
in  the  learning  of  both  the  East  and  West ;  for  many  years 
the  representative  of  his  race  in  the  Legislative  Council  of 
Ceylon  and  now  the  Solicitor  General  of  the  Crown  in  that 
island. 

OCCULT  SCIENCE  IN  INDIA  and  among  the 
Ancients,  with  an  account  of  their  Mystic  Initia- 
tions AND  THE  History  of  Spiritism,  By  Louis 
Jacolliot.    Cloth,  I2.50. 

An  unbiassed  account  of  the  result  of  researches,  pursued 
for  many  years,  into  the  subject  of  occult  science  and  the 
practices  of  the  initiated.  Being  neither  an  advocate  of  these 
beliefs,  nor  the  opposite,  the  author  sets  forth  things  as  he  saw 
them  with  his  own  eyes  and  records  faithfully  such  explana- 
tions as  were  received  by  him.  A  valuable  addition  to  every 
library. 

YOGA,  or  Transformation,  by  William  j.  Flagg. 

fo.oo. 

A  faithful  representation  of  the  various  religious  dogmas 
concerning  the  soul  and  its  destiny,  and  embracing  the  Akka- 
dian, Hindu,  Taoist,  Egyptian,  Hebrew,  Christian,  Greek, 
Mohammedan,  Japanese    and    other    systems  of  MAGIC. 

This  book  is  an  evidence  of  the  great  research  and  study  of 
the  author,  setting  forth  as  it  does  the  methods  adopted  by  the 
different  religious  systems  in  the  attainment  of  "Yoga"  or 
Union  with  the  Divine.  Transformation  from  the  animal-man 
to  the  God-man. 

244  Lenox  Avenue,  New  York. 


Theosophical  Society,  Publ.  Dept4  5 

THE  MEMORY  OF  PAST  BIRTHS. bvCHARLEs 

Johnston,  M.  R.  A.  S.     Paper,  25  cents,  Cloth,  50  cents. 

In' this  charming  work  is  explained  the  theory  of  rebirth  and 
the  operations  of  the  mind  in  the  act  of  memory,  according  to 
Eastern  doctrines,  with  rules  for  exercising  the  same  so  as  to 
recollect  what  lies  back  of  the  present  consciousness. 

This  book  enjoys  a  wide  circulation. 

KARMA:  WISDOM  AND  WORKS,  by  Charles 
Johnston,  M.  R.  A.  S.     Paper,  35  cents. 

A  lucid  and  comprehensive  exposition  of  one  of  the  funda- 
mental teachings  of  Theosophy,  based  upon  the  author's  trans- 
lation from  the  original  Sanskrit. 

The  writings  of  this  author  are  well  known  for  the  brilliant 
and  scholarly  manner  in  which  they  are  treated. 

THE    ALTAR    IN    THE  W5LDERNESS,  by 

Ethelbert  Johnson.  Cloth,  50  cents. 
This  is  an  attempt  to  interpret  man's  seven  spiritual  ages,  or 
seven  well  defined  spiritual  experiences,  which  every  soul  is 
obliged  to  undergo  in  the  course  of  its  higher  evolution.  The 
book  is  remarkable  for  the  beautiful  and  easy  manner  in  which 
this  most  difficult  subject  is  treated.  It  is  a  most  valuable  little 
book  and  will  be  an  ornament  to  every  theosophical  library. 

THE  MIND  AND  THE  BRAIN.  By  Prof.  Elmer 
Gates,  Smithsonian  Institute.  Paper,  25  cents  ;  cloth,  50  cts. 
Presents  in  an  easy  style  his  investigations  in  the  art  of  Mind 
building,  (psychurgy).  He  demonstrates  the  arts  of  systematic, 
originative  conscious  mentation,  and  systematic  subconscious 
mentation,  and  systematic,  originative,  cooperative  mentation, 
which  three  processes  constitute  the  art  of  using  the   mind 

systematically  in  original  thinking **  Your  mind  is 

to  you  the  most  momentous  and  important  fact  in  the  universe  ; 
for  without  your  mind,  what  would  be  the  universe  and  its  pos. 
sibiUties  to  you  ?  If  you  can  get  more  mind  or  a  better 
regulated  mind,  you  will  fundamentally  and  directly  promote 
all  your  undertakings/* 

244  Lenox  Avenue^  New  York* 


6  Theosophical  Society^  P«bl*  Dcpt* 

NATURE'S  ALLEGORIES.  By  Maude  Dunkley. 
Gilt  top.  Cloth,  75  cents. 
A  beautiful  book,  especially  for  young  people,  expressive  of 
the  idea  of  intelligence  in  plant  life.  It  is  filled  with  quaint 
conceits,  beautiful  conceptions,  through  which  is  breathed  the 
spirit  of  love  and  peace. 

THE    PANORAMA    OF  SLEEP:  Soul   and 

Symbol.     By  Nina  Picton.    Illustrated     Cloth,  j5i.oo. 
Sixteen  symbolic  dreams,  experienced  by  the  writer  are  re- 
counted in  beautiful  language.     The  teaching  is  uplifting  and 
inspiring  and  easily  understood.     Artistic  illustrations  add  to 
the  value  of  the  book. 

THE  PANCH  ADASL  An  encyclopedia  of  spiritual 
training.  From  the  Sanskrit,  with  annotations  by  N. 
Dhole,  L.M.S.  Two  vols,  in  one.  Cloth,  I2.50.  Printed 
in  Calcutta. 

A  complete  key  to  the  science  of  man,  his  relation  to  the 
universe,  and  his  ultimate  destiny.  Panchadasi  is  the  greatest 
and  most  complete  work  on  the  Vedanta  Philosophy. 

VEDANTASARA.  The  essence  of  the  Vedanta  Phi- 
losophy, From  the  Sanskrit,  with  introduction  and  anno- 
tations by  N.  Dhole.     Cloth,  j5i  25.     Printed  in  Calcutta 

SELECTIONS    FROM    BUDDHA.    By  Max 

MiJLLER.    Cloth,  gilt  top,  75  cents. 

Extracts  from  one  of  the  Books  of  the  East,  known  as  the 
"Life  of  Buddha."  These  selections  are  passages  of  an 
ethical  and  philosophical  character,  and  are  the  flower  of  the 
divine  and  ennobling  teachings  of  the  light  of  Asia. 


244  Lenox  Avcntic,  New  York* 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  PINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JUL  31  194! 

■•    ^ 

^;^I3^ 

__ZI 

REC'D  LD 

iin\i    V63-8P^ 

HUw       »*'»'«-» 

LD  21-100m-7,'40(6936s) 


U.  b.  DC 


CQ5H^2325S 


AAfKriL— 


